Had I Only Known
by morganite1
Summary: Akari Nekura doesn't know what her now extinct clan's bloodline limit was or why she was neglected by them all, and when she is rescued by Kakashi and is taken in by him, she discovers many things: Love, Betrayal, and Realisation...
1. Prologue

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'...So. This is the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha.' Akari said, and admired the tall buildings protruding above the strong walls of the town. She carefully drank in the greenery of the trees, the grass and the mountains. Akari had been brought up in a barren wasteland, her clan destroyed years ago, not even knowing what her surname nor bloodline limit was.  
'Yes, it should be a nice, peaceful place for you to be in, after what's gone on in your life..' a man with a navy mask and his Ninja headband pulled over his left eye. From what Akari could tell, his expression was happy, yet with a twinge of sadness.  
'Ne.. Kakashi-nii-san, if I'm going to live here.. then where am I going to stay?' Akari asked, her charcoal-black eyebrows starting to knit together.  
'...I didn't think of that.' Kakashi eventually said, and began walking purposefully towards the entrance gates. 'I.. guess you'll have to stay with me then, if that's alright with you?'  
Akari stopped walking. 'EH?!?!?!?!?!?!? B-B-BUT I COULD NOT POSSIBLY.. burden you..' she started yelling, until Kakashi gave her a smouldering look, which seemed to melt her insides and calm her down a little.  
As Akari began to redden slowly but surely, Kakashi blinked. Then underneath his mask he broke into a smile, shook his head, grabbed Akari's hand and led her towards the village. (I wonder what kind of challenges await this girl.. Certainly not simple ones.) Kakashi thought darkly, but was interrupted in his reminiscing by a familiar voice.  
'Kakashi. Where have you been? You weren't called out on a mission to fetch somebody, you know.' Tsunade said, her arms folded across her chest. The fifth hokage didn't look stern, however. Instead she looked curiously at Akari and gave Kakashi a penetrating look, and he responded with an equal one.  
'...I'm sorry, Akari-san, but is it okay if I leave you to your own business while I talk to Tsunade-sama?' Kakashi asked, addressing Akari.  
Akari blinked. 'Um... sure, I guess.'  
'Alright. If you feel like heading over to my house for a rest, just ask anybody for where my house is. The keys are underneath the flower-pot!' and with a kind look on his face, he left with Tsunade.  
In fact, Akari was exhausted. As she wandered the empty streets, searching for someone to ask for Kakashi's home's whereabouts, she heard a voice.  
'YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME, OLD MAN!' a young boy, about her age skidded around the corner, his blonde spiky hair jutting up from all directions as he sprinted down the street, a look of pure joy and mischief written across his face. Akari blinked, as a man ran after him, breathless.  
'Ano... excuse me, could you tell me where I could find-'  
'COME BACK HERE BRAT!!!!' he roared, his face red with anger as he pursued the boy down the street.  
'...Guess not...' Akari muttered, and continued down the street, a little annoyed. As she turned a corner, she noticed a girl around Akari's age, with short pink hair and a dark pink dress on, leaving her house.  
'Ano, excuse me!' Akari said quickly, before she got her chance to ask taken away from her again.  
'..Yes?' the girl said, and looked at Akari in surprise.  
'Well.. could you tell me where Kakashi-nii-san's house is?'  
'K-K-Kakashi..-nii-san?!' the girl spluttered in shock, but after recovering, she nodded.  
'...Are you.. related to Kakashi-sensei?' the girl asked, her eyes full of questioning.  
'N..N-N-NO!' Now it was Akari's turn to splutter in shock. 'He... he just helped me out of a terrible predicament.. so..I'm staying at his house for a while until he can find out what to do with me, I guess.'  
'Are you a Ninja?'  
'Actually.. I am!' Akari smiled, and pointed to her headband on her upper-arm.  
'Ah.. A Fire-nin, like us, hmm?' the girl smiled kindly, and stopped outside a house.  
'Ah-'  
'Well.. I guess I'll see you, then! My name's Sakura Haruno by the way.. You?'  
'Akari Nekura.. But-'  
'Sorry! Gotta run!' Sakura called, and ran off, leaving Akari helpless.  
Akari then turned around to face the house properly. She blinked. And then twitched.  
'HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH FLOWERPOT IT IS, KAKASHI-NII-SAN, YOU BAKA!'


	2. Chapter 1

'Akari-san, I'm leaving! If you have some time, could you do some grocery shopping for me?' Kakashi called from downstairs, and Akari awoke, with her head on a desk. (I must've fallen asleep while reading last night..) she thought, shrugged, and then bolted downstairs to meet Kakashi.  
'Ano.. Kakashi-nii-san, if you don't mind me asking.. When am I going to be assigned to a team?' Akari asked, her dark blue eyes round and full of curiousity.  
'Well, that's what I'm about to sort out for you now!' Kakashi said, and Akari could tell that he was smiling slightly. 'Most likely you'll be put on my team, seeing as there is... a vacant spot.' and then she noticed that his face seemed to fall, and wondered why he seemed to sad. Had one of his sutdents died?  
'Well.. okay. What do I need to get then?' Akari asked, trying to make the heavy atmosphere feel bright and cheerful again.  
'Oh.. All you need to get is a few vegetables and a video game.'  
Akari blinked. 'A... video-game?'  
'Yup. You see, I need you to get Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX for my DDR.' Kakashi said, and Akari couldn't tell whether or not he was amused by her blank expression.  
'But.. Do ninjas even have the TIME to play videogames?!'  
'Of course we do! I have all 4 expansion packs, and i MUST have the new one before he has it..'  
'..Huh. Who's 'he'?'  
'Oh.. nobody! Well, if you could get all this done by around noon, then meet me in the training field and I'll introduce you to your team!' Kakashi said quickly, then waved goodbye and left through the back door.  
Akari stared after him, wondering who 'he' was and her new teammates would be. The prospect of being on Kakashi's team seemed exciting: although he was a bit weird, he seemed a powerful ninja. Then Akari looked at the clock, ran upstairs and shrugged on her dark blue trousers and a brown t-shirt, stared at her long-and-impossible-to-control-hair, sighed and tossed it behind her shoulder. Then as she got her shoulder bag and grocery list, Akari grabbed a piece of toast and walked out of the door, and into the street.  
The sky was a clear blue, and not a cloud in sight. (Typical summer's day..) Akari thought, and smiled wistfully, wondering what could possibly be ahead of her in the upcoming months. Adventure? Sadness? Romance..? Just thinking about it gave Akari shivers up her spine. She finally felt like her life was moving again.  
After around five or so minutes, Akari arrived at the grocery store, and walked aimlessly down the aisles, staring at packet after packet of 'Freshly Cut Salad! 50 off!' on shelf after shelf, until finally she came to the raw vegetables, the ones that aren't tampered with whatsoever, therefore making them trustworthy. Just as she put the final tomato into her basket she-  
'BARK!'  
'EEEEEEP!'  
BOOM.  
When Akari opened her eyes cautiously, all she could see was a huge white thing that was yapping and licking her face. Laughing, she peeled the white puppy off of her face, and sat up.  
'God, I'm so sorry, are you okay?' said a boy's voice.  
Akari looked up and stared into a pair of slitted dog-like eyes that looked at her intently, that seemed to size her up. After that, she stood up and saw a boy around her age, with a dark grey jacket on with black fur around the sleeve and the hood, which he currently had pulled down, revealling a mass of messy dark brown hair. He also had dark red marks down the sides of his cheeks. (Clan marks..?) Akari thought, and touuched her own spiked dark blue ones on her cheeks.  
'Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about it!' Akari smiled, and turned around to see what she'd crashed into. It seemed that she had fallen into a massive tower of 'Freshly Squeezed Pears' cans, and now it seemed to have definitely diminuated in size.  
Then his dog yapped and jumped into Akari's arms and attempted to lick her face again. Akari laughed pushing him away. 'It tickles!'  
'Hey, Akamaru! Sit.' the boy said, and Akamaru obeyed immediately. Then he turned his attention to Akari. 'Hey.. I'm really sorry 'bout that.. He just gets really excited sometimes -'  
'It doesn't matter! Really! Now where's my-' Akari looked for her basket, and found it toppled over on the floor, the vegetables covered in dust.  
'Aw, man! I feel really bad now.. Hey, why don't I get the vegetables for you and I'll even pay!' the boy offered, looking really embarassed.  
'Oh, no! You don't have to pay!' Akari said, surprised. 'It was an accident, so it's fine!'  
The boy stopped picking up the new vegetables and looked at Akari curiously. 'Are you sure?'  
'Yup!' she smiled, 'But.. there is one thing you could do for me..'  
'And that is?'  
'Could you take me to the nearest video-game shop? I'm still kinda new around here..'  
The boy blinked. 'Um.. sure, if that's what you want.. Hey.. wait a second! Are you the girl staying with Kakashi-sensei?!'  
Akari looked surprised, and as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear she said 'Ano... well, I guess you could say that..'  
'Woah. You're definitely different to what the rumours were about you. Some people said you were a missing-nin that was going to lead a rampage on the hidden village, others said you simply had it bad for Kakashi-sensei and would use any excuse just to be with him!'  
'...Huh.' Akari said, feeling a little annoyed at these stupid rumours. 'Well.. I'm not doing any of those things. But I don't really wanna say why I'm here, either.'  
'Fair 'nuff.' the boy said finally, and then held out his hand. 'I'm Kiba Inuzuka, you?'  
Akari cautiously took his hand and shook it. '...Akari Nekura.' As Akari paid for the groceries, Kiba waited patiently, Akamaru at his side. A few minutes later and they were walking together down a rather busy street, Akamaru trotting alongside happily.  
Eventually they arrived at the video game store, and Akari immediately saw the game that Kakashi wanted. She grabbed the last game, paid for it and left the shop, and found Kiba and Akamaru waiting outside.  
'Ano.. Thanks for taking me here.' Akari said, smiling slightly.  
Kiba looked surprised and for some reason, then he turned away and muttered, 'It.. doesn't really matter.'  
For some reason, Akari felt disappointed. '...Oh. Well.. I guess I'd better get going.. Bye.' and turning very red, Akari ran off to meet Kakashi. Why did she feel this way? Embarassment? Heat? Or was it something else.. Something buried so deep it might be almost impossible to find..?


	3. Chapter 2

As Akari kept on running towards the training fields, her mind was spinning, wondering why Kiba had been so nice to her, they'd only just met, for crying out loud! He treated her as though they were.. best friends.  
'There's no time to think about that.' Akari told herself harshly, and focused on the route to the training fields instead.  
After around 10 minutes of endless running, Akari arrived at the training grounds, and heard several kunais being thrown, ninja techniques reverberating around the forests and ringing in Akari's ears as she heard a few muffled yells of pain.  
'Not good enough Naruto!' Akari recognized Kakashi's voice bark. 'Remember: A Ninja must see underneath the underneath!'  
Akari silently walked into the training grounds, and as Kakashi turned around to greet her, she waved. But as Kakashi walked over to her, she realised that it wasn't Kakashi, simply an illusion. Carefully she sent her chakra out, and felt him...  
'There!' Akari shot a kunai into a tree, and Kakashi stumbled out of it, looking surprised.  
'Well, well, well.. Akari-san, you certainly have a talent for controlling your chakra.' Kakashi said eventually, after recovering from the fall. 'Is this your own technique that you've developed?'  
Akari nodded. 'It was the only way I could survive out.. there.' She said and shuddered. When her entire clan was wiped out, at the age of 7 years old, Akari was left alone to fend for herself without any help from others, and thus, her sensing-chakra was born.  
'Well, I'm impressed. Now, let me introduce you to your new teammates!' Kakashi said, and beckoned Sakura and a boy that you recognized as the mischief-maker Naruto Uzumaki.  
'This is Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki! And I am going to be your teacher, Akari-san. Naruto, Sakura-san, this is Akari Nekura.'  
Akari blinked. Then she smiled and said a little shyly, '..Hi.'  
Then Naruto grinned and said loudly, 'Hi, Akari-chan! I'm gonna be Hokage one day, believe it!'  
Sakura punched Naruto on the head and said angrily, 'Don't go saying stupid stuff like that, Naruto-kun you baka! Nice to see you again, Akari-san.' she then smiled, and grabbed a few kunai out of her pouch. 'Wanna practise throwing skills?'  
'Sure.. But is Naruto-kun going to be okay..?' Akari said, and stared at a dazed Naruto on the ground.  
'Oh he'll be fine, Akari-san. Sakura-san beats him to a bloody pulp everyday and he seems to pull through. Also it's very amusing to watch!' Kakashi said, and smiled beneath his mask.  
'...Is that even healthy..?' Akari said quietly, twitching slightly as she smiled. Then she and Sakura walked off together towards a clearing in the forest, which had several dartboards on a few trees.  
'You do know how to throw kunai, right?' Sakura asked, just as Akari took her own weapons from out of her pouch.  
'Of course!' Akari said indignantly, and tossed one to her left. It hit bullseye. 'I've been a shinobi ever since I was around 6.'  
'...6 years old?!' Sakura said, surprise showing on her face. 'How is that even possible?!'  
'...My clan was seperate from others. They believed that every child must be brought up as a shinobi, and that by the time other children have begun their training, our clan's children should have finished theirs.' Akari said, and smiled thinly. (If only they had known how to love their kids as well as teach them extreme discipline..) Akari thought, and internally winced when she remembered her mother's slaps across her face, and the tears that ran down Akari's cheeks everytime she was struck by her own kin for getting a technique wrong. If only she knew what her bloodline limit was.. Then maybe she could understand why her clan was so strict about the thin line between good and evil.  
'So.. Have you seen any guys that you think are cute yet? Like...Kakashi-sensei?' Sakura said, an evil glint in her eyes as Akari whirled around and stared at her in surprise.  
'Um...' Akari's face turned tomato-red and Sakura laughed.  
'Don't worry, I won't tell anybody! How about any guys our age?'  
'I.. only know Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun.' Akari said, not so flushed anymore, but turned away quickly so Sakura couldn't see her face just in case.  
'...Okay.' Sakura said, and absentmindedly chucked a couple of kunais at more dartboards.  
'So..'  
'So what?'  
'Are there any guys that you like?' Akari almost immediately wished she hadn't asked this question. Sakura's face crumpled but tried to hide it with a strained smile.  
'Well.. Yeah. He was our last teammate. But.. Sasuke-kun went to the dark side.. To Orochimaru. And I don't know what I'm going to do without him-!' And with those words, a few tears slid silently down her cheeks, and she threw a shuriken at a dartboard with such force that it nearly broke it two. She sat down on a treestump and started crying silently. Akari was at a loss at what to do.  
'Sakura-san...'  
'Don't worry Sakura-chan. I'll get Sasuke back, no matter how long it takes!' Naruto's voice echoed around the clearing, and Akari turned to see Naruto smiling sadly, his fists clenched and his eyes full of pain for Sakura.  
Cautiously, Akari sat down next to Sakura, and put her delicate arm around Sakura's back as her body silently shuddered from the sobs violently. As Sakura hugged Akari like a newborn baby would cling to its mother, Akari felt tears slip from her own eyes as she stroked Sakura's hair, feeling distraught at the very thought at what it's like to lose someone you love.


	4. Chapter 3

'Kakashi-nii-san, I'm leaving!' Akari called as she skipped downstairs. It had been a month since Akari had arrived at Konohagakure, and she'd made many friends in the meantime. Today she was meeting up with her teammates, Sakura and Naruto to go to Ichiraku's(sp?) Ramen Bar, and apparently they had a surprise for her!  
'Ah, okay Akari-san! When will you be back?' Kakashi called from the small kitchen that situated behind the overstuffed olive couch.  
'I don't know, Sakura-san and Naruto-kun have a surprise for me!' Akari called happily as she quickly plaited her long hair and undid it again.  
'Fair 'nuff. I'll leave some dinner for you in case you get back late!'  
'Arigatou Gozaimasu, Kakashi-nii-san! Ja Ne!' Akari yelled as she closed the front door, tucked the key in her weapon pouch and made her way down the busy street. She was wearing a short-ish white sundress and carried a straw sunhat in case the weather decided to get even more warm than it already was. As she walked through a market with plenty of shouts an bartering going on, she noticed a quiet little stall that was selling incredibly ripe apples and bananas, and juicy peaches and oranges. She bought a few of each, paid the Old Lady who smiled at her and gave her a small basket to hold them in. Akari thanked the woman and skipped through the streets merrily, turned a corner and -  
'AHH!'  
Akari felt a weight pressing onto her whole body and something on her mouth. Cautiously she opened her eyes, and met another slitted pair of eyes that were very familiar. Then she realised what the pressure was on her lips. Kiba was kissing her! Blushing madly, she pulled away and sat up.  
'I'm s sorry Akari!' Kiba said, looking embarassed and extremely apologetic as he helped Akari up. 'I always seem to fall over whenever I see you' he grinned sheepishly.  
Akari smiled back and asked, 'So why are you in such a hurry?'  
'Oh.. Well Naruto and Sakura told me to meet them at the Ramen Bar for a surprise, and then Akamaru ran... What?' Kiba asked.  
Akari stared at him. 'They told me to meet them at the Ramen Bar for a surprise, too.. I wonder what they're planning..?'  
Kiba shrugged, and said, 'Well.. There's no point reminiscing about it now, C'mon!' He grabbed Akari's hand, and together they ran towards the Ramen Bar, Akamaru trotting behind, barking happily.  
After a few minutes they finally arrived at the Ramen Bar, to see Naruto and Sakura sitting at the Bar and looking at Kiba, Akari and Akamaru in surprise.  
'So... Looks like you've found out that the surprise wasn't just for you..' Naruto grinned, and beckoned them over. Together they all chatted for a while, and whenever Naruto got a bit rowdy (which was often) Sakura usually clouted him on the head, which made him shutup quickly. After a few minutes, a few other Ninja that Akari knew as Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji.  
'Oh, geez.. So it's a group thing? What a drag..'  
Ino hit Shikamaru and the head and said angrily 'Shika, don't be so anti-social! I'm sure it'll be great, right Chouji?'  
Ino looked at Chouji hopefully, who just shrugged, opened a packet of crisps and began munching cheerfully. Ino gave him a death-glare.  
'So..where d'you think we'll be going, Akari?' Ino asked, looking pretty desperate for a conversation.  
Akari thought for a second, and said 'Hmm.. Well, it's a hot day, right? So, it's unlikely that we'll be indoors alot, cause we'd all roast. So my guess is that we might be going near the beach or something. Am I right?' Akari looked at Sakura and Naruto, who looked surprised for a second, but then changed their expressions to masks.  
'Maybe you are..' Naruto said.  
'Or maybe you aren't!' Sakura grinned.  
After that, the group of Genins (with Shika being the exception, as he was already a Chuunin) broke into a relaxed conversation, and 5 more Ninja arrived, who Akari recognized as Rock Lee, TenTen, Neji, Hinata and Shino walking over to her. Hinata looked surprised that Akari was talking to Kiba and he was replying enthusiastically, and she smiled, while Shino simply raised his eyebrows above his sunglasses and said nothing.  
After a few minutes Naruto and Sakura yelled to get everybody's attention. Sakura smiled at everyone and said, 'Now We're going to tell you what we're all gonna be doing! We're going to be leaving Konohagakure, travel South to the seaside, maybe go to the theme park by the beach, and go swimming!'  
Everybody cheered with happiness, and Akari grinned, pleased that she'd guessed so accurately.  
Then Naruto said, 'Now, we're all going to meet at the Village Gates in an hour, so get provisions, swimming costumes, radios, whatever you wanna bring!' And with that, the group disbanded, and Akari hurried home, practically skipping and singing with happiness at the thought of having such a fun and carefree day. She was definitely glad that Kakashi had found her when he did, otherwise she'd probably be dead by now. 


	5. Chapter 4

Akari skipped back to Kakashi's house, practically singing all the way. When she got inside, she noticed that Kakashi wasn't home. (Must be on a mission..) Akari thought absently, as she spread butter on her sandwich and placed the ham on top.  
When Akari left, she realised that she would need a swimsuit. Silently she cursed under her breath, and searched for someone she recognized to point it out for her. Just as she'd given up hope, somebody yelled, 'Akari-san!!'  
Akari whirled around, and there was Sakura, complete with parasol, beachball and surfboard. Akari grinned back, and yelled, 'Sakura-san!! Do you know where I can get a swimsuit?'  
Sakura walked over, and said, 'Yup! Come with me! I know exactly the kind of swimsuit that would look great on you.' And with that they set off together, towards the centre of Konohagakure.  
A few minutes later and Sakura was showing Akari a pale blue bikini, with a silver seashell pattern all over it.  
'Um... Are you sure that'll be okay? It's a bit.. skimpy.'  
Sakura laughed, and said, 'You should see what Ino's bikini's like! Don't worry, I'm wearing to same kind of thing. I'll even buy it for you-!'  
'Oh, no! You don't need to do that!' Akari cried, and rummaged in her bag for her money bag.  
'Don't worry, it's fine! And please, call me Sakura-chan or just Sakura. Sakura-san makes me twitch.' Sakura said as she paid for the bikini at the counter.  
'Okay, Sakura...chan.' Akari said, thanked Sakura, and together they walked towards the town gates, laughing and joking around like old friends.  
When they arrived, Akari saw that they were the last people there, and when Naruto noticed this, he yelled, 'Okay everybody's here, believe it! So, shall we get going?' When everybody cheered, he grinned evilly, and shouted, 'Alright then.. RACE YOU!!!'  
And with that everybody set off at incredible speed through the trees, Akari was quite fast compared to them all, and was soon at the front, just behind Kiba, who Akari knew was a fantastic runner.  
'..Yo.' Kiba said absently was they jumped from tree to tree together, Akamaru slightly ahead of them both.  
'Hey. How often d'you train, 'cause you're a pretty fast runner.' Akari asked, trying to make conversation before there was an awkward silence.  
'Hmm... About twice a day with Akamaru. We practise jutsus together as well, and we actually developed this new one a few days ago-' Kiba began enthusiastically, but then remembered that he was breaking a Ninja's Golden Rule: NEVER tell anybody your techniques. 'So.. um.. yeah. How 'bout you?'  
'Around 3-4 times a day, I guess. I have too much free-time..' Akari said casually, but felt her cheeks burning when Kiba fixed his gaze on Akari.  
'3-4 times.. a day? Is that even human for a girl?' Kiba said eventually, blushing slightly as he looked straight ahead again.  
Akari was suddenly aware that they were very alone. They had definitely beaten the others in the race by far, and already she could smell the salty tang of the sea air.  
'I guess.. How long d'you think it'll be 'til we get there?' Akari said quickly, wanting the conversation to flow so they didn't get into any awkward situations.  
'I'd say about a couple of minutes or so, actually.' Kiba said, and Akamaru barked back at him in approval.  
And sure enough, Akari could hear the crash of the waves, and the laughter of children after about 10 seconds of silence. A minute or so later, and they were standing at the edge of a white beach, packed full of people, the waves creeping onto the shoreline, surfers enjoying the sun and the ocean to the max. Akari smiled, and was glad that she'd brought a surfboard with her, and was sure she'd learn how to ride one soon enough.  
After around 10 minutes or so, the other Ninjas found Akari and Kiba sitting at the edge of the beach, talking about various techniques enthusiastically. Akari saw Ino waggle her eyebrows at her, and she grinned back going slightly pink. Then everybody noisily went into the changing rooms(girls seperate from boys, obviously. ..), and as Akari got changed in her own cubicle, she heard the others talking about all sorts: From boys to makeup to hair straighteners. Once Akari had changed into her bikini and stepped outside of the door, she saw Sakura did have a similar bikini, but hers was a pale pink while Akari's was pastel blue. Grinning at eachother, they stepped out into the sun, and ran towards the beach.  
Then Akari slowed, having seen Kiba running with Akamaru towards the ocean, their eyes both alight with joy and laughter. Then Sakura whispered to Akari, '...Go. Kiba would really like it if you spent some time with him today. He never shuts up about you, and thinks the world of you.' Akari blinked, blushed, felt a mixture of emotions.. Then she eventually nodded and ran off towards Kiba, yelling at him and waving. Kiba looked up from Akamaru, grinned back at her and waved.   
'Hey!! D'you know how to surf?' he asked, and Akari shook her head.  
'Alright, want me to teach you?' when Akari nodded, he said, 'Okay, but you might wanna tie your hair up.. It's gonna get windy and your hair will be in the way and in a mess..'  
Obediently, Akari tied her hair up into a messy bun, still saying nothing. Kiba stared at her, and said, 'Um.. Are you okay? You're not talking.'  
Akari mumbled something along the lines of 'I d'no what to say..', and blushing, slipped her hand in Kiba's.  
Shocked, Kiba blushed deeper, said nothing, and led her into the waves, sat her on his surfboard and began to teach her, and each movement he made seemed so graceful and beautiful to Akari, and she tried her best to copy each one perfectly, to become as graceful as him herself, and within a few minutes she was already surfing like a pro, laughing with delight as the waves crashed against her surfboard, but not phasing her from staying balanced. This was her element, and she could feel the waves, no, the entire ocean obeying her, she felt so powerful and in control.. But she had to stop before she let herself go out of hand. Her clan had always taught her not to give in to power, like her uncle had...

A few hours later and Akari was sitting next to Kiba and Sakura, watching the flickering flames, and the whole group on Genins and Chuunins were laughing about many things, from practical jokes they played to the clumsy things that they had all done. Then Ino stood up and said, 'Who wants to have a game of hide'n'seek? We can partner up, and when we get found, we have to use ninja techniques to not get caught! But no serious ones, just little genjutsus and mild taijutsu that'll confuse our seekers. And we can only use the forest that's near the ocean, but don't go too far out!'  
Akari and most of the others nodded in agreement, and Ino said, 'Okay, it's decided! Now I'll spin this bottle and whoever gets picked has to be the seeker. There's gonna be 2 seekers, and the rest of us are hiders.' Then Ino spun the bottle, and it landed on... TenTen. Then Ino spun the bottle and it landed on... Kiba.  
A little disappointed that Kiba was a seeker, Akari shrugged it off fairly quickly and paired off with Sakura, and after a minute or two they were racing through the trees together, laughing, until they finally stopped when they came upon a beautiful lagoon that led out into the ocean, and a steady waterfall erupted from the top of the lagoon.  
'Good.. The noise of the waterfall will drown out our voices and hopefully they won't find us for ages!' Sakura grinned.  
'..Wait. I have an idea. Ino-chan said that we could use a little genjutsu to confuse our opponent, right?' When Sakura nodded, Akari continued. 'Well.. How about you and me send some bunshin clones out into the forest for decoys?'  
'...I like your thinking! Okay, let's do it.' Sakura grinned, and together they both summoned up clones of themselves, and together they ran off into the forest.  
'Well know when they've discovered our decoy plan when our chakra wavers.' Sakura said, and Akari nodded.  
So while Sakura sat down by the lagoon and gazed at the waterfall, Akari walked towards the ocean, and dipped her feet into the water. She had changed back into her sundress a while ago, but she knew it would dry quickly. And so, as she walked steadily into the water, a hand grasped her wrists, and a silky voice whispered in her ear, '..Got you.'


	6. Chapter 5

'..Got you.'  
Akari whirled around to grab the attackers wrists, but her opponent kept her in a firm grip, refusing to subside. Then, smiling to herself slightly, Akari raised her free hand and made a couple of jutsu signs. She heard the attacker intake a bit of air then.  
'Nani-'  
'Ninja Art, Water jutsu, Silent Water Dragon Fang.' And with that she saw a silent but steady flow of her chakra seep into the ocean, and she saw the dragon's head rise from the water, snarling at the attacker, and just as the attacker was about to let go... The monster struck. The enemy made a yelp and stumbled backwards, releasing Akari, and Akari unsealed the jutsu, and soon her chakra was flowing wholly again in her body. Then she turned around to face the victim of her jutsu.  
He was a boy around her age, with baggy black clothes on and a rather unhealthy look to his face, but all the same he was devastatngly handsome. His jet black hair was spiky and pointed towards a certain direction, and was shot through with mud and twigs.  
'Um.. Are you okay?' Akari asked, feeling a little more relaxed now that the person she was facing was her age.  
'I'm fine. Until we meet again.. Akari-san.' the boy grinned attractively, already starting to walk away, hands in pockets.  
'Wait! What's your name?' Akari called, but it was no use. He was already gone. Akari really wanted to tell Sakura about it.. But she felt that there wasn't any point. He was probably just a weirdo. (A very hot weirdo...) Akari's conscience corrected for her, and she blushed slightly.  
Then as she started wading back to the shore, she felt a presence, and she carefully poised her hand over her weapon pouch, ready to shoot a kunai. But then she felt a hand slip in her own, and hand that she recognized very well, and a voice that she recognized even better whispered in her ear, '..Hey.'  
Akari's heart was already pounding. Her hand tightened in the boy's own strong, rough one. Slowly, she turned around to see Kiba's face, his slitted eyes gazing intently at her, full of wonder. Akari stared back, drowning in his features, and felt Kiba's hands slipping around her waist, and her own hands slipping around Kiba's. And as they stood there, motionless, their eyes started telling eachother secrets, secrets that their owners had no idea about, but all the same knew that they were beautiful and important. Akari brought her hands to Kiba's cheeks, and their faces started inching closer together, until their noses were touching. Kiba tilted his head...  
'FLYING KICK! HIYAAAAH!'  
When Akari opened her eyes, she was lying sopping wet on top of an equally sopping wet Kiba, who was now sporting a black eye.  
'Oh... Hi Kiba-kun.. Akari-san..' Tenten mumbled, looking incredibly embarassed. Akari stood up quickly, and so did Kiba.  
'Hmm.. uh... Well. This is awkward.' Kiba eventually said weakly, and Akari grinned sheepishly at him.  
'Er.. Yeah. Bye!' Tenten said quickly, waving and sped off at an insane pace.  
'Um..' Akari said, looking at Kiba, who had a blush creeping up to his cheeks.  
'Well.. I guess I caught you..' Kiba said, and grinned sheepishly.  
'..Yup. I'll go get Sakura-chan..' Akari said, desperate for a chance to run away and calm down, and with that sped off through the entrance of the lagoon and found Sakura hiding behind a rock.  
'...Kiba-kun found us.' Akari said quickly, before Sakura could ask what was going on. Sakura looked like she was going to ask something else, but she didn't say anything, but shrugged and together they waded back out to the sea again.  
'Hey, Kiba-kun. Who else is still missing?' Sakura asked.  
'There's nobody else, actually. You two were the hardest to find.' Kiba said, and looked quite admiringly at the two. 'We raced after your clones, but then Akamaru sensed that they were fakes. Pretty good decoy, who came up with it?' When Sakura pointed at Akari, who grinned shyly at Kiba, he grinned and said, 'I should've known. You're too cunning for your own good, Akari! Wanna go back to camp?'  
When Akari and Sakura both nodded in agreement, they set off together, racing towards the camp on the beach.  
Eventually they got there, after all of them smacking into trees, because it was entering twilight now, and none of them had great night-vision. Tenten had switched a radio on, and most people were sitting around the campfire, talking quietly and nodding their heads absently to the music, their faces softly glowing from the firelight. Shikamaru and Chouji were lying a fair way off from the others, and just staring into space. Akari saw how peaceful they looked, and walked over towards them.  
'Are you two okay?' Akari asked when Shikamaru looked at her with a tired expression.  
'..I guess so. We're just looking at the stars, nothing too troublesome. Wanna join?'  
Akari nodded, and lay next to Shikamaru, put her hands behind her head and stared at the tiny stars, some of them winking out, others forming pictures, and some so closely packed together that they made huge white swirls in the dark blue background.  
'...Wow.'  
'Yeah, I always feel so calm when I stare at the stars..' Chouji remarked thoughtfully, while Akari smiled serenely at the comment.  
'..Yo.' Akari heard a familiar voice above her say. Akari sat up and saw Kiba, who was smiling slightly at her. 'Can I join?' When Akari nodded, Kiba lay down next to her right side, and silently they gazed at the stars with Shikamaru and Chouji, each one feeling calm and peaceful. After a while, others began to join them, even the noisy Naruto, until all of the Genin were looking at the stars, quietly commenting on some pictures to their neighbours, pointing out constellations to eachother, and generally having a calm and thoughtful moment.  
As Akari continued to gaze, her thoughts started wandering back to the mysterious boy who tried to attack her, but with no prevail. Who was he? What did he want with her?! And did she have feelings for Kiba? And did he return those feelings, and wasn't just playing around?  
'Only time will tell..' a voice said behind her, deep in conversation with someone else. Akari sighed inwardly and thought, (Too right.). And with that, while absently playing with her hair, she fell into a deep sleep, and the last thing she saw was Kiba's face staring intently at her..  
Kiba's POV  
While Kiba was gazing at the stars, many thoughts were swirling in his head.. Mostly about Akari. Her skin, her hair, her smile, her eyes... All of them seemed so welcoming to him. He felt as though if he didn't embrace Akari soon, she would slip through his hands like water. He stroked Akamaru's sleeping head while he reminisced, and thought about how they met, smiling to himself when he remembered that Akamaru scared the hell out of her by jumping on her and licking her face all over. He turned over to face Akari...  
But she was already closing her eyes, looking very sleepy. Kiba smiled gently at her, looking intently at her perfect features, then he noticed that she was shivering slightly in her sleep. He shrugged off his jacket, and placed it over Akari, then he turned the other way, and he too, fell asleep, a smile playing on his lips.


	7. Chapter 6

Akari ran breathlessly through the woods, panic emitting from every single pore on her body. They were coming to steal her away, to kill her like they killed the rest of her clan while she watched. The terrified faces of her family while they slowly died haunted Akari as she ran, tears blurring her vision.  
'Akari-san!' Akari stopped in her tracks to see Kiba, his hand outstretched towards her own. His eyes were full of terror as he hung off the edge of a cliff, that seemed to never end. His fingers were starting to slip. 'Please... help me.'  
'Akari. Don't help him. Help me instead!' a familiar boy said, his eyes were also full of the same terror that Kiba's had.. But he seemed alot more afraid, as he said, 'I need to revive my clan.. Please.. I need you!'  
Akari was at a loss at what to do. Both of the boy's eyes seemed to stare up at her pleadingly, begging her to save them, when she could only choose one. And while she had feelings for Kiba, the boy was like a magnet to her, and she felt compassion boil from her as she reached for the mysterious boy's hand as Kiba's fingers slipped...  
Akari shot up from bed, gasping, sweating like crazy and the bedsheets clung to her. (Why does that boy keep recurring in my dreams..?) She thought exasperatedly as she trailed towards the bathroom, then groaned in annoyance when she heard Kakashi pottering about in there. Sighing, she plodded downstairs and stepped into the kitchen. She could hear Kakashi singing loudly now, and wished that she had earplugs, and sighed inwardly as she poured cereal and milk into a bowl and munched grudgingly as she listened for Kakashi to leave the bathroom. She knew she had to get rid of her bad temper.. But she needed a shower before she could do that.  
'Oh.. Hey, Akari-san.. You look tired.'   
'...Er. Shika-kun?! What're you doing here??' Akari blinked as she carefully watched him plod down the stairs, looking as tired as she felt.  
'Ah.. Well.. I kinda had a fight with my Mom.. I called her troublesome when she was in one of those moods.. Let's just say I was lucky to get out of there in time!' and with that he grinned and sat down next to Akari, munching a piece of toast fairly cheerfully. She had never seen Shikamaru like this before..  
'Has something happened? You seem.. different.' Akari said, and teased Shikamaru by putting her hand to his forehead. 'Are you sick?'  
'Pfft.. Shuddup. I just feel more happy 'cause I don't feel like I'm on a leash anymore, I guess. My mom is so troublesome..' he said, and sighed after he finished his toast.  
'So Kakashi-sensei let you crash, huh?' Akari chewed her cereal thoughtfully, swallowed and continued. 'Does he do that often?'  
'Yup. Whenever one of us are feeling down, we just trail over to his house and we crash. It's a great chance to clear your head and stuff.'  
Akari was about to reply, but there was a knock on the door.  
'Wait one sec.' Akari called to Shikamaru as she opened the door to see 2 Jounin outside.  
'Tsunade-sama wants to see you.' The one on the left said, coughing slightly.  
'Shikamaru, too.' the one on the right said, stroking his short black beard.  
Akari nodded, bounded upstairs, showered very quickly and shoved on her clothes at the speed of light. Within 2 minutes she was downstairs again and bounding out of the door with Shikamaru, and together they ran towards the Hokage's residence.

'Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Nekura Akari, Ama TenTen and Inuzuka Kiba. I have chosen you to complete a C-Rank Mission that involves escorting Seika Hime-Sama back to the Earth Country. Hatake Kakashi, I have chosen you to be the leader of this mission, and Nara Shikamaru, I have chosen you to be second in command. I shall give you all briefings on the mission if you choose to accept. So? Do you?'  
'HAI.' Everybody said simultaeneously. Akari noticed that Kiba looked pretty worn out.. (Has he just come back from his last mission..?) Akari wondered as she studied his battered clothes and dirty face carefully with her penetrating dark blue eyes.  
'Alright then. I want you all to pack. It's going to be a long journey, and make sure you have your best arsenal of weapons and equipment on hand. If the Princess doesn't make it back to her Country in a week, then their festival will be ruined and all of your heads WILL be on the chopping blocks. I don't know how many enemies you will encounter, but I can guarantee that their will be some. I have selected a few Jounin to scout ahead for you, to try and make the journey comfortable for the Princess and relatively simple for you all. Be at the Village Gates within the hour, understood?'  
'Wakalimashta, Hokage.' Everybody said in unison, and with that Akari and the others left the office.

'Kiba-kun, are you sure you want to do this mission? You look pretty beaten up.'  
Kiba turned around to see Akari, and he felt his pulse quicken slightly. Now he really wanted to kick himself. (What a dork she must think I am...) Kiba thought darkly, but masked his face with what he hoped was an attractive (and more importantly) sane smile as he approached Akari and said, 'Don't worry about me, Akari-san! I tripped up on the way back to the village, so after a shower I'll be fine.' The actual truth was that Kiba's last mission was pretty hard, and he was lucky to get out of there without a broken limb. But he kept his smile on, and Akamaru looked at him curiously, his dark eyes full of suspicion.  
Akari blinked at Akamaru, then at Kiba. Then her face broke into a smile, and she said, 'Well.. I guess I better get packing. See ya later Kiba-kun, Akamaru!'  
Kiba nodded, and when Akari left, Akamaru barked at Kiba.  
'...Shut up, Akamaru. She probably doesn't even like me... Come on, let's go pack.' After Kiba stared out at the village, Akamaru whined. Kiba grinned at him, tucked him in his coat, and together they ran off to go pack.


	8. Chapter 7

'Akari-san! Have you seen my medicine anywhere?!' Kakashi called as he came down the stairs, shirtless (YES, SHIRTLESS, FAN-GIRLS!!).  
Akari blinked. Her mouth went dry, her eyes were as round as saucers. She tried to speak, but it came out as a croak. Then she coughed and started babbling hysterically, 'Um.. Um.. What did you say, Kakashi-sensei..?!' She turned around quickly and silently hyperventilated.  
'...My medicine, Akari. Have you seen it?' Kakashi said bluntly, and stared at Akari, who still seemed to be attempting to reload her brain.  
'Um.. Um.. I think it's where the medicine would be..' Akari said dumbly, shook herself and corrected herself quickly, 'Er. What I meant to say was that it's probably on top of the kitchen counter. Ok see ya bye!' Akari yelled, grabbed her backpack and sprinted out of the house before Kakashi could question her strange behaviour.  
'..Idiot.' She muttered to herself as she walked at a quick pace down the street, waved at Tenten, and walked towards the gates with her.  
'How long d'you think this mission'll take?' Akari asked, and Tenten shrugged.  
'Depends how much ground we can cover in a day and how strong our enemies are.' She said matter-of-factly. 'So.. You fancy Kiba-kun. Wowee.'  
Akari was drinking from her water pouch at the time, and spat out half of what was in her mouth.  
'EH?!?!?!?!?!??!'  
'Oh, come on! It's all us girls and guys ever talk about!' Tenten grinned and nudged Akari playfully.  
'Oh... Oh really?' Akari replied weakly, and felt herself flush a brilliant shade of magenta as she continued to walk with Tenten, now wishing she had pretended not to notice her.  
'Yeah.. I mean - Oh... Hey, Shika-kun..' Tenten said, a little disappointed that a guy had interrupted a girls' conversation.  
'..Yo. I can't believe I've been put second in command for this mission.. Ugh, how troublesome.' Shikamaru groaned, and stretched his arms tiredly.  
'You're still tired..?' Akari asked, and stared at Shikamaru's sleepy and dazed expression.  
'Yeah.. I don't wake up until like.. 2:00pm?'  
'Shika-kun... It's.. It's 2:30pm..' Tenten said weakly as she stared at Shikamaru yawning.  
'..Meh. Whatever, let's just meet the princess, escort her and get this over with.' Shikamaru shrugged, and then grinned at Akari. 'So when're you and Kiba gonna start dating?'  
'SHIKA!!!' Akari yelled, turning bright red, and whacked him on the arm.  
Shikamaru yelped, and rubbed his arm, laughing. 'Okay, okay! I'll stop! ..But you should ask him out. Or rather HE should ask YOU out!'  
'..mm. Maybe.' Akari said absently, then shrugged that worrying thought off and ran towards Hinata and waved. Hinata looked surprised, and uncertainly waved back.  
'Hey, Hinata-chan! How's things going with your little sister? I heard she broke her arm.' Akari said cheerily, desperate to keep her mind and anybody else's away from the subject of her and Kiba.  
'Oh! Um.. She's fine, but it was a bad break so she's going to be out of action for a while..' Hinata said thoughtfully, and started staring off into space. Akari felt a little disgruntled that the conversation went dead, and was just about to start it up again when she saw a carriage led by charcoal black horses pull up at the gates. Kakashi had arrived now, and opened the carriage door and bowed gracefully.  
And out stepped an extremely elegant princess, long delicate blonde hair flowing with the wind, her ivory kimono painted with leaves was incredibly long, and around her arms she had a pale green sash which hung from her elbows. She held a fan up to her eyes to the others couldn't see her face. It was fairly obvious that every male within a 20 metre radius had already gone ga-ga for her, including Kiba. Akari felt a pang of jealousy surge through her as he saw Kiba look at the Princess the way that he... Well, the way he used to look at her. But Akari felt she couldn't hate the Princess, and instead looked at her with admiration..  
'Wow.. she's so graceful.' Tenten said admiringly as she stepped from the carriage.. And tripped over her kimono and fell flat on her face.  
'You were saying Tenten..?' Ino giggled hysterically as Kakashi helped the Princess up, who then brushed her kimono down and flicked her fan in front of her face before anyone could see it.  
'Um.. Yes, well. I, Princess Yumi of Earth Country will be very grateful for your services. So please, treat me with kindness and take me home safely.' And with that she hurried into the carriage and shut the door quickly, leaving most of the Ninjas stunned.  
'Well.. Let's get going, ne?' Kakashi said, and Akari could see him smirking underneath his mask. When everybody nodded in agreement, Kakashi pulled out a scroll and showed them a formation. 'This is the formation we will be using. Akari-san, Kiba, I want you to scout ahead for us. I will be a few metres behind you, and then I will have Naruto-'  
'WAIT, KAKASHI-SENSEI!'  
All the ninas turned to see Rock Lee running desperately with a backpack towards them. Then he said quickly, 'Please, I beg you! Let me accompany you on this mission. I could be very useful to you all with my taijutsu ability!'  
'...Alright then, Lee-kun.' Kakashi said eventually. He knew he could never fight off one of Gai's pupils. 'Well, that changes my formation slightly, but no matter. Naruto, I want you on the left side of the carriage, and Lee on the right. Tenten and Sakura, I want you on the carriage itself, to tend to the Princess's needs and make sure the horses don't go beserk. Shikamaru, I want you behind the carriage, and make sure that nobody's following us. Is everybody happy with their job?'  
'Hai, Kakashi-sensei!' Everybody responded immediately, and with that everybody got to their posts and set off.  
It was mainly a boring journey for Akari and Kiba, they had nothing to talk about apart from arguing which was the right route and Akari complaining about men and maps and KIba complaining about women and their obsession with 'asking directions' when there was nobody to ask! And Akamaru just poked his head out from Kiba's coat, silent but having a doggish grin playing across his lips.   
After several hours, night began to fall, and Kakashi yelled, 'Okay team, halt! Akari, Kiba, where are we now?'  
'We're about halfway to Earth Country, Kakashi-sensei!' Akari responded immediately.  
'Good. Well.. I guess we'll just set up camp then -'  
'WHO WANTS TO PARTAY?!?!?!?!' a drunken voice screamed from behind the crowd of ninjas, who all whirled around to see a once dignified Princess now potter about unsteadily with her hair wild, and her eyes bright with the alcohol and sugar-rush that saké brings.  
'Well?! Are we gonna get funkay or what?? LET'S HAVE A SATURDAY DANCE-OFF!!!!!' she screamed delightedly, and forced a bottle of saké down everybody's throats.  
Well.. It was a rave she wanted... And definitely a rave she got.


	9. Chapter 8

Akari screeched, 'NO WAY! I'M NOT DOING IT!!' While a very drunk Sakura and Tenten shoved her towards Naruto, who was blushing like crazy.

'Come on, Aka-chan!! Naruto's been crushing on you for ages!' Sakura yelled(somebody had very conveniently found a radio in Princess Yumi's carriage and was playing it very loudly), and then she hiccuped.

'YEEEAH, NARUTOTO! Tell her how much you luuuuuurve her!' Tenten slurred and cackled. Akari and Naruto stared at eachother in horror, petrified of the drunk twosome. They'd also had a lot to drink, but it hadn't gone to their heads. Yet.

The whole group of Ninjas were absolutely wasted. Lee had run off into the forest hysterically screaming something about Indians with pitchforks, Shikamaru was being lively (gasp! The horror!), Kiba and Akamaru were singing along and break dancing(?!) to 'Move Your Feet', and Kakashi and Yumi were having a ridiculously heated dance-off, and the occasional sing-off.

'Dammit, Aka-chan! Give Naruto a snog!!' Sakura and Tenten demanded, now angry. Just when Akari saw her chance to run away –

'I'LL HELP YOU KIDDIES!' Yumi yelled, and banged Naruto and Akari's lips together. Akari pulled away the minute she could, and grabbed a bottle of saké and drank the lot. She stored another in her belt, just in case she needed to forget anything else.

Instantly she felt the sugary alcohol rush to her head, and cackle pretty insanely. _Now _she felt drunk. She tottered over to where everybody had now gathered. Kakashi and Yumi's dance-off/sing-off had gotten intense. Kakashi was now using all his expert DDR moves that he'd memorised, while Yumi was going _crazy_ with her extreme macarena. Eventually they both tired out and leaned against each other for support, and started singing random Chicago songs to eachother.

'While Akari was laughing hysterically at the Princess and Kakashi drunkenly singing to eachother, she felt a hand grab her waist. She looked around her shoulder and saw a grinning Kiba, and together they ran together deep into the forest, far away from the clearing. Then as they finally ran out of breath they collapsed together on a comfortable, mossy area. Akari was still giggling from the previous incident and her eyes were alight from the drink and excitement. Kiba stared back at her, his eyes slitted into an... intense gaze? No.. a predatory gaze. Akari blushed slightly, but didn't look away, the adrenaline was already starting to die out, and she felt sleepy.

'..Wanna play truth or dare, Akari?' Kiba said absently, and he played with the grass on the ground while we waited for an answer.

'Sure.'

'Alright, truth or dare?' Kiba sat up slightly and looked at Akari even more intensely than before.

'Dare, dog-boy!' She teased, and Kiba stood and dragged Akari up with him.

'Alright. I dare you... to do this.'

Akari felt like her heart was going to explode. Kiba was kissing her, and Akari froze in shock. She didn't know what to do, and while she was happy about it, she was scared too. Kiba pulled away and frowned.

'What?' he said, looking a little surprised.

Akari hesitated, but then she grinned. 'This is my dare, right?'

Kiba grinned back, and then Akari, laughing, glomped him and kissed him with all her might. Immediately fireworks started in the pit of her stomach when Kiba kissed back, his breath sweet despite the excessive amounts of saké that they had both drunk. Eventually they toppled over, and laughed. They lay side by side, never tearing away their gaze from each other. Kiba looked at Akari very softly, and she smiled blissfully, then yawned widely.

'Looks like someone's out past their bedtime.' Kiba sniggered, and Akari weakly whacked his arm.

'Shu'up..' Akari said, and then yawned again. Kiba smiled tenderly, and pulled Akari into his arms, and kissed her on top of her head. And together they fell asleep, in each other's arms.

'Wow, you snore loud.' Akari teased when Kiba woke up. She'd untangled herself from his arms a few minutes ago, and was now sitting on the mossy grass, watching Kiba sleep.

'I don't!' Kiba yelled, and chucked grass at her. Akari grinned and lobbed some back, and thus, the grass fight started. Kiba eventually won, by piling a load of grass on Akari, then jumping on top of her, shouting 'VICTORY!!'

'We'd better get back..' Akari sighed, remembering the mission.

'Oh.. yeah. Tsunade-sama's gonna kill us if she finds out about this!' Kiba groaned and put his head in his hands. 'And I've got a killer headache to match..' he grinned sheepishly at Akari, who too seemed to have a nasty headache now.

After a bit of complaining, they headed back to the clearing quickly, trying to remember the way they came last night. Eventually they arrived after a lot of friendly bickering and teasing, and saw the whole Ninja group staring at them.

'…What?' the couple said simultaneously, bemused. Tenten and Sakura looked at each other seriously for a second, but then smiles broke through and they both yelled, 'FINALLY!!'

Sakura glomped the two of them while Tenten danced around them and sang 'Hallelujah'.

Shikamaru grinned at Akari, but he looked sleepier than ever. That night must've been the most lively he'd ever experienced. Princess Yumi was talking to Kakashi quietly, and she was blushing.

'They'd make a good couple..' Akari murmured, and then peeled Sakura off of her.

'Sakura-chan, calm down!' she grinned, and Sakura grinned back.

'Well, guys! We're gonna continue our journey to Earth Country, and finish it in time for the festival! Also, Princess Yumi has requested that we stay the night in her Palace.'

Immediately everybody got to their usual posts, and Akari and Kiba bickered some more on the way. Akamaru had decided to give the two some privacy and was getting pampered by all the girls in the carriage (Princess Yumi had let them sit inside).

While Akamaru was being stroked, Sakura stretched in the plush seats and said, 'I think Akari and Kiba are an item now.'

'..Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sakura!' Tenten snorted, and went back to tickling Akamaru behind his ears, and he yipped in pleasure and wriggled around on her lap in bliss.

'No, no.. I mean _really_ an item, not just your average item. I think they're soul-mates or something..' Sakura looked sad for a moment, and then stared out the window for a while, until Tenten finally replied.

'….I suppose you're right. They do look good together, not to mention they act like best-buddies, not just as boyfriend and girlfriend. But I don't believe in soul-mates, and Naruto, butt out of people's private conversations.'

'EH?!?!?! NARUTO WAS LISTENING?!' Sakura exploded, and then got smacked on the head by Yumi, who had a killer hangover.

'Will you all shuttup?! I'm trying to sleep off this hangover before we get to the Earth Country!' she snapped furiously, and pulled a pillow over her head. Sakura rolled her eyes, and then climbed out of the carriage and leaped on top of the roof, Tenten and Akamaru joining her.

'Naruto… Get up here.' Sakura said blandly, and a cowering Naruto came up to meet Sakura's dark aura.

'Gomen, Sakura-chan! I really didn't-'

'Tenten, pass me a kunai.' Sakura said in a somewhat menacing monotone, and when she received one, she grinned evilly.

'Time for a very SHARP memory. Remember when we had to prove ourselves to Kakashi-sensei, and he used a certain jutsu on you?'

'Oh no.. Sakura-chan, PLEASE-'

'Time to experience it again, _intensified!!!_' Sakura yelled, and jabbed the kunai into an area of Naruto's where the sun definitely _does not_ shine. Naruto screamed and fell off the carriage. Akamaru looked terrified and bounded off to join Kiba and Akari at the front.

'Nicely done, Sakura!' Tenten complimented with an evil grin.

'Thanks, Tenten.' And with that, they enjoyed the rest of the journey by listening to Naruto's mumbles and grumbles of pain and insults all the way to Earth Country.


	10. Chapter 9

**NOTE TO READERS:**

**..Hi D. Anyways, credit for JupiterSpoon for helping me out (she's Princess Yumi ;D, and I'm Kitty in hers. Oh god.. What a pair we would make if we met up in the fanfics…), so go read her HP fanfic.. it's amazing. It starts off in CHERUB and then goes all awesome. MAJOR DRACO HOTNESS IN IT. : especially since Kitty gets to have a long-term relationship with him –drool- and now I'll shuddup before I ruin her whole plot …. So yeah! PLEEEASE can people review because I'm getting depressed that nobody actually comments. And btw, I was feeling a tad insane, spazzy and generally in a weird mood when I made this. And the whole GTA thing? Please, don't ask o-o..**

_**Naruto**_** belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and the **_**Grand Theft Auto**_** series belongs to **_**Rockstar Games.**_

The mahogany carriage grinded to a halt outside the Earth Country gates. As Tenten and Sakura jumped off the carriage and opened the doors, Princess Yumi burst out of them, and ran into the arms of a horrified fairly elderly man.

'FATHER! _I thought I'd lost you forever…_' Yumi said, grinning evilly at the Earth King.

'Oh god… Get away from me, you horrible child..' he teased, and then turned his attention to the fairly bemused Ninjas, who still hadn't gotten over that odd spectacle.

'Thank you for escorting my daughter safely to our home country, the Fire Nin's kindness shall not be forgotten here. I trust that Yumi had requested that you spend the night at the Palace before returning home?' when everybody's head nodded in agreement, he carried on. 'You shall be official VIPs at the festival, and have access throughout the Palace, within reason, of course! Now, in the Earth country, drinking is tolerated by all ages on festival days, so while, you enjoy yourselves, remember this: 'A bird who cannot fly is as wise as the dung beetle'.' He stated wisely.

Tenten said, '…Um, what does that even mean?'

'Beats me, ask the monks.' The King replied offhandedly, and then Palace guards greeted him and the Princess, and the Ninjas were beckoned too. As they walked through the city gates, a huge roar of cheering greeted them. Everywhere Akari looked she saw a smiling face, obviously pleased that the heir to the Earth Country's throne had arrived safely.

'Wow… They really love Princess Yumi, ne?' Akari said to Kiba, who grinned at her and nodded. He and the other guys seemed to be enjoying the attention, and were waving back at the people. Akari, Sakura and Tenten waved cheerily as well, and Hinata managed a shy waggle of her fingers, smiling nervously.

Eventually they reached the Palace gates, and walked in, the golden gates closing behind them quickly, in case anybody who was too excited (Which was about 80 of the population) decided to run in after them.

'Guards, please show these Fire Nins to their rooms.' The Earth King said, and Yumi waved them a quick farewell (Mainly at Kakashi) before they turned around a corner and disappeared.

'They must have some huge speeches to make..' Akari thought, and smiled to herself. After about 10 minutes of walking down twisted corridors and climbing up steep stone steps, they finally arrived at a huge oak door at the top of a staircase.

A huge guard with a ruddy face, fairly tired and bloodshot eyes but with a cheery smile twirled his bushy moustache as he opened the door and said, 'Welcome to the Sycamore Suite. This suite has 3 bedrooms, a living room, a closet and 4 bathrooms. There is a fireplace in all rooms except the bathrooms and the closet, and we hope that your stay here will be enjoyable… Wait, _HEY!_' His excellent tour guide speech was completely ignored by all the Ninja, who were already checking the place out, 'oo-ing' and 'ah-ing' at many things. Akari was busy fighting with Tenten over a bed by the window, and was winning when she heard Naruto scream.

All the girls glanced at eachother and Akari let go of the painful lock she had Tenten in, and she gasped with relief. 'You win…' she muttered as they hurried into the living room.

'Naruto..? What is it?' Shikamaru said wearily, and Naruto looked stunned.

'The… the TV… it's got a…'

'ULTIMATE GAMES SYSTEM!!! YAHOO!' Kakashi roared delightedly, and jumped onto the DDR machine. Akari and Sakura squealed and ran towards the videogame rack. Sakura spotted a complete Singstar collection, and grinned evilly. Akari saw a bunch of random anime super-3-month-addictive-long quest games that looked pretty cool.. And Tenten… Well, Tenten managed to find Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas AND GTA: Vice City.

'Oh… Oh my god…' Tenten whispered, her hands practically trembling at the sight of those games.

'Er… Tenten? Are you okay?!' Kiba asked, looking at Tenten's now awed state.

'THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! 2 GTA GAMES! SCORE! ..I'm so stealing them.' Tenten screamed, and then cackled madly and shoved GTA: Vice City into the PS2 drive and started playing instantly.

'That… That explains so much..' Sakura and Akari said simultaneously, and then sat on either side of her and began cheering Tenten on as she hijacked a motorbike… And then fell off. Kiba, Naruto and Shikamaru laughed at this, and Naruto grabbed the console off Tenten and showed her how it was really done. He managed to kill about 10 people, win loads of cash and outrun the police within a minute.

'Naruto… By any chance do you have issues with this game?' Akari said, grinning at him while he entered the tool shop and bought a chainsaw. 'Ooh, can I have a go?' she asked, and grabbed for the controller.

'..Er. Akari? You like these kind of games?' Kiba asked, surprised.

'Ha, you haven't seen my evil side yet… And anyway, violent games are fun.' She said, and smiled at him, who looked pretty scared but smirked back all the same. Then she got back into the game, and ended up killing 57 people, 2 Cuban gangs, crashing about 8 motorbikes and had just stolen a firetruck.

'Jesus, you're a natural!' Shikamaru commented with an admiring look on his face. 'But, alas… Not as good as me.' And with that he snatched the controls and got out of the car. He found the nearest motorbike and began to do several flips in the air to win cash, and after about half an hour of that everybody got bored of him obsessing over tactics when you were basically meant to break the rules and smash every car in your sight, and he drove on the correct side of the road safely, without bumping into any other cars or running over people. The police didn't tail him once.

There was a knock on the door, and Sakura ran to get it. A couple of maids stepped into the room, tugging behind them an array of kimonos, for boy and girl alike. Akari and Tenten, grinned at each other, and together they ran towards the girls' choices, and scaled through them. Tenten found a dark bluey-green kimono that suited her A LOT, and it came complete with a black obi, and she ran off with a maid to help her change into it. Sakura eventually found a dark pink kimono with a pale pink obi and followed Tenten into the girls' room. Akari pondered about which kimono she would choose, and then she felt a presence behind her.

'Choose the dark blue one, it'll look beautiful on you..' Kiba whispered, his breath tickling Akari's ear, and she shivered with pleasure at the thought of him standing so close to her. When he quickly moved away back to the guys, she carefully picked up the kimono that Kiba has suggested, chose a dark red and gold obi to contrast with the royal blue kimono, and left the living room and entered the girls' bedroom, where Tenten was already dressed and looking very pretty, especially with the cherry blossom ornament that she was placing in her hair, and a maid was tying up Sakura's obi.

'Oh, that'll really suit you, Akari-chan!' Tenten grinned as she put it against Akari's slender figure. Akari quickly changed into the scarlet under-robe that was traditionally worn, and then Tenten helped her into the elaborate kimono, and Sakura tied her obi. Tight. After Akari got used to breathing in her extremely tight kimono (Tenten insisted that it defined her waist very nicely so she wouldn't let Akari loosen it) and started fiddling with her hair in the mirror. Eventually she gave up, tied it into a high ponytail with a crimson ribbon and clipped the bits of longish hair that hung at the front to the ponytail.

'The guys have already gone down to the festival, and probably already had about 5 jugs-worth of saké… God help them.' Tenten sighed, and Akari suppressed a giggle. She evidently didn't know how badly she had behaved at the party, and that she had seduced Lee into begging her for forgiveness for not calling her sexy.

'You look really pretty, Akari… Kiba-kun's not gonna be able to keep his hands off you!' Sakura giggled and received a playful shove from Akari.

'Shutup, Sakura… And you look really pretty too!' Akari blushed madly at first, but then calmed down and complimented Sakura.

'Hm… I guess we'd better go down and enjoy the party!' Tenten winked with an impish smile, and linked arms with Sakura and Akari. 'Well… Let's get going, shall we?'


	11. Chapter 10

**NOTE TO READERS:**

**Hey again . Sorry if some of you have been waiting a while, but stuff's been happening, and I've been really lazy lately ! Also, I've been cheering and groaning at the dreaded exam results ¬¬… Stupid school curriculum system thing :… Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy!!! And if anybody wants to know (probably not… -sob-), I have an IQ of 122. Apparently that makes me a Mastermind. Ohmy.**

_**Naruto**_** Belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Not me, cause if I did create it, I definitely wouldn't be here in my bedroom wailing along to **_**One Tree Hill**_

'For God's sake, Naruto! I don't wanna talk about it!' Kiba growled, his face already flushed from the saké and embarrassment. Naruto put his elbow on the table, and grinned at Kiba evilly.

'Aw, come on. You must've snogged her by now! With or without tongues?'

'SHUTUP, NARUTO!' Kiba yelled, and clouted the blonde on the head. That would definitely leave a scar.

'Ow, ow, okay!!' Naruto laughed, and got back to emptying the contents of his ramen bowl.

'…. So it _was_ with tongues.'

'NARUTO!!!!!!'

'Hey, Shikamaru-kun!!!' Tenten called, attracting the attention of the young chuunin, who was looking at a shougi (japanese chess) match with interest.

'Oh… Yo.' Shikamaru waved at the three girls, who all grinned at him. Shikamaru was one of the smartest people Akari had met, with an IQ of over an amazing 200.

He grinned lopsidedly, and then looked pointedly at Akari. 'Looking for Kiba?'

'Er…' Akari blushed madly, and looked away.

Shikamaru smirked and replied, 'He's at the Ramen Bar with Naruto, last time I saw him.'

'Okay, thanks Shika-kun!' Akari called, and ran off into the crowd, hitching the kimono up a little bit so she didn't trip, and heard Tenten and Sakura shouting 'Go get him girl!' 'Yeah! Show him what you're made of!' And then she very faintly heard Shikamaru muttering 'Bakas…'

Smiling to herself, Akari sprinted through the crowd, eager to find Kiba, and to hopefully kiss him again, only not so drunk this time.

'Aw, come on, Kiba! Tell me what happened when you two ran off together!!!' Naruto whined, his crystal blue eyes sparkling with pure curiosity.

'I said _no_ Naruto!' Kiba replied with forced calm, and looked like he was going to lose self-control and punch him any second.

'Pleeease!'

'_NO_.'

'WHY?!!'

'Maybe because I don't want you to know?!' Kiba retorted, exasperated.

'You… you don' t trust me?' Naruto said, his voice breaking, but his eyes were laughing, sparkling with mischief.

'How could you, Kiba-kun..?'

Kiba turned at the sound of Akari's voice, and saw that in Naruto's place sat a disheartened Akari-clone, whose eyes were shining with tears instead of mischief.

'I… Well, I…' Mr Smooth had just become Mr Dunce, and felt his cheeks burning up.

'Please, Kiba-kun, Akari-chan wants to know what happened!' When the Akari-clone pressed her thigh against Kiba's own, he couldn't take it anymore.

'ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! WE KISSED, AND FELL ASLEEP IN EACHOTHER'S ARMS, HAPPY?!'

'Quite.' The Akari-clone had poofed back into a smirking Naruto, who had his arms folded in a satisfied way.

'…But why didn't you let things go further, huh?'

'_Shut the hell up, retard_. We're not all sickos like you, y'know.' Kiba glared at Naruto, who just laughed and downed a cup of saké. Kiba smirked, deciding that he would hit a nerve for his sake. 'Just 'cause you wanna do what _I_ did with_ Ino_.'

'SHUTUP!' Naruto yelled and clamped his hand on Kiba's mouth, who licked his hand repeatedly until he let go in disgust.

'Weirdo.'

'Loser.'

'AT LEAST I DON'T STINK OF DOG!!!'

'AT LEAST I DON'T HAVE BOWEL TROUBLE!'

By now they had both stood up and were glaring furiously at each other, looking ready for a fight.

'So Kiba… You wanna have a rematch of that preliminary round, huh?' Naruto smirked, and Kiba glared at him, and Akamaru was curling his lip back into a snarl.

'Hell yeah I do… And I'll watch out for your revolting habits too, retard.' Kiba snarled, and staggered a bit drunkenly, before righting himself. Naruto laughed.

'God, you can't even stand up straight! No wonder Akari-chan considered kissing me last night!' He jeered, and Kiba's head snapped up to look at him, surprised.

'What..?!' he said in disbelief, and then grinned. 'Just because you _want_ her to snog you, doesn't mean you have to _pretend_ that she did!' Then he smiled grimly. 'No jutsus. Got it?' And then he grabbed Naruto's jacket, brought him up to his height and brought his balled fist down. Hard.

'YEAH! THAT'S IT, BEAT HIM UP!' Akari heard jeers of a drunken crowd to her right, outside the ramen bar.

'Oh great… This _can't_ be good…' she muttered, irritated, and pushed her way through the circle of people to find Kiba and Naruto punching the hell out of each other, completely oblivious to the crowd and the disgraceful way they were behaving.

'YOU BASTARD! YOU LIAR!' Kiba roared, and brought his fist down onto Naruto twice, the second one stopped by Naruto's palm.

'I'M NOT FREAKIN' LYING, BAKA! SHE WANTED TO, I KNOW SHE DID!' Naruto retaliated, and he threw a punch, knocking Kiba back, blood squirting from his nose.

CRACK.

Akari slapped the two of them really hard, drawing blood from their cheeks.

'Akari-!' Kiba began.

'Both of you, _get up_.' Akari said sharply, and a sulky Naruto and an ashamed Kiba obeyed silently. 'How dare you fight like wild animals in the middle of a festival. Do you have any _idea_ what kind of shame that can bring on a group of Ninjas?! This is meant to be a happy time, and the two of you are ruining it with childish arguments-'

'They aren't childish. How dare _you_ think that they are childish, when the argument is deciding how I feel about you now.' Kiba said quietly, but with a menacing tone behind that quietness that sent a shiver down her spine.

'What…?' Akari said, shocked, and stared at a stone-faced Kiba. He grasped Akari's hand and led her from the crowd of people, and towards a tiny alley without a single word. He then pushed Akari up against a wall, and he looked at her intently.

After what seemed like an eternity to Akari, Kiba finally said, 'Did you or did you not want to kiss Naruto last night?'

'WHAT?!' Akari spluttered, staring in shock at Kiba, whose features had now relaxed slightly.

'So… So you didn't want to kiss him?' Kiba muttered, and looked down, ashamed.

'No. I didn't. Sakura and Tenten were drunk and trying to force us to, I think…' Akari said bluntly, staring at him, extremely confused by Kiba's jealous reaction to this.

'Look, Akari I'm-' Kiba began, but Akari touched his lips with a slender finger before he could say another word.

She looked at him softly, and as she leant in to kiss him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and Kiba wrapped his own arms around her waist.

After she had brushed his lips gently with her own, she whispered in Kiba's ear two words:

'Thank You.'


	12. Chapter 11

**Authors Note!!**

…**Hi. Sorry that this one's kinda short, but I've got a bit (okay, a lot.) of writer's block at the moment, and I'm trying my best to get rid of it by writing one-shots, i.e. my Edward one-shot (From the book ****Twilight****New Moon****). If you haven't read it, I suggest you check it out ;D! It's a fantastic novel, but you have to force yourself a bit through the first chapter or so. So yah D!**

**I do not own ****Naruto****, if I did I would be rolling around in a pile of cash next to my £300,000 indoor swimming pool, complete with Jacuzzi **

'Akari-san!!!' Kiba shouted as he chased Akari, her dark hair flying in all directions as the panicked girl stumbled through the forest.

Akari sobbed as she tripped over tree roots, thorns cutting her arms, legs and face. Her clothes were muddy, and her hair was full of dirt and twigs. She jumped into a tree and sped off, trying her hardest to lose Kiba. She couldn't let him find her… He'd try and take her back to them…

'Akari.'

She stopped in her track, shocked to hear a voice so close to her. Breathing hard, she turned around to meet a pair of blood-red eyes. Sharingan eyes. The boy's perfect face stared hard at her, as though trying to uncover all of her techniques. Akari couldn't look away from the handsome stranger.

'Akari, you need to meet me, don't you?' he said calmly, still holding her gaze without faltering.

Akari nodded slowly, trying yet failing to drop her gaze. There was something mesmerising about those eyes, that face, that hair… She wanted to reach out to him and…

'Akari! Don't fall into Orochimaru's traps!!!' the boy said harshly, panic now arising in his eyes. And then he kissed her. Akari felt her instincts take over, and she fiercely kissed him back, her arms wrapping around his neck and pulling him towards her, as if they weren't close enough already. She felt dizzy, but she didn't care, her mind was spinning like crazy, but she still didn't care. All she wanted was him…

As they gasped up for air, she whispered, 'Sasuke…'

Akari woke up screaming, her dark hair all over her face. She looked at her surroundings, and sighed with relief that she was in her bedroom, with the morning sunlight streaming through her window. Birds were singing merrily outside, that familiar song that Akari had grown used to after a year and a half of living in Konoha.

'That's the fifth time I've had a dream with him in it…' she murmured as she pushed strands of hair behind her ear. It had been months and months since she'd last had a mission, and Kiba still wasn't back from his B-Class mission. That one had been going on for 4 months straight, without a break in between, but Tsunade-sama had said that everything was running smoothly.

Akari yawned, stretched, and then looked at her calendar. Three more days… she thought, smiling, and then got out of bed. She held back a scream.

Her legs were covered in scratches. Panicked, Akari pushed up the sleeves of her PJ top. They were covered in wounds as well, and then she looked in the mirror. She had one huge cut across her cheek. She held a shaking hand up to her face, and pressed the mark. A tiny drop of blood oozed out of it. Akari felt extreme panic bubble up inside of her, but then she controlled herself. So, she must've been sleepwalking. Oh well, whatever. It's fine, if anyone asks she'll just say that she got hurt in training.

'I'll deal with this later.' She told herself firmly, then she grabbed a towel and entered the bathroom for a shower.

'What's up with you today, Akari?!' Sakura grumbled, looking sulkily at Akari, who was moodily stabbing her ramen and slurping it up loudly.

'Nothing…' she mumbled, sighed, and let her chopsticks clatter onto the table. The two newly-made Chuunins were both still a little uptight about the last preliminary rounds, the two only making it through because their opponents backed out for some personal reasons.

Sakura looked thoughtfully at the sky for a minute, and then nudged Akari and winked, 'It's 'cause you're missing Kiba-kun, ne? Ne?'

Akari felt her cheeks heat up, and she yelled a little to highly 'No!! Of course not!!! Just 'cause you miss Naruto-kun.' She said smugly, and felt satisfied to see Sakura turn bright red for a change. Sakura had confessed that she was in love with Naruto just before he left with Jiraiya, and he promised that he'd be back with presents and that he'd be a strong ninja by the time he returned.

'Ugh, hurry up Friday!!!' Akari moaned, and rested her head against the bar table, feeling a migraine coming on from all the pent-up frustration that was building. While she lay there for a few peaceful seconds, Sakura suddenly gasped, and Akari heard an ear-splitting crash. She looked up to see a horror-struck face on her best friend. The remains of a ramen bowl lay scattered across the floor.

'Huh? What's up, Sakura?' Akari frowned, and followed her gaze towards the town gates. Then it was her turn to gasp. She jumped up and stared at the sight before her.

Kiba had returned. But he wasn't alone.

A boy was helping him stand. The boy had messy jet-black hair. He was incredibly handsome, and what's more, he had red eyes.

Sharingan Eyes.

'Sasuke-kun…' Sakura whispered, and a tear spilled down her cheek, creating a tiny path of moisture.

Akari couldn't move.

She was looking into the eyes of the boy that she'd dreamed about.


	13. Chapter 12

Akari could feel her mouth go dry and her insides turn to jelly.

This was the boy who haunted her dreams.

This was the boy who made her instincts go wild.

Sasuke… 

A girl with jet-black hair and emerald green eyes in the corner caught Sasuke's eyes.

Could this be her? Could this be Akari Ne- 

A sobbing Sakura snapped him out of his thoughts. She threw his arms around him.

"I missed you so, Sasuke-kun. I missed you." She whispered into his ears, burying her face into his shoulder.

"I…I missed you too Sakura.", he said, never taking his eyes off the girl in the corner.

Sasuke glanced down at Sakura's face, streaked with tears.

"Sakura, who's that girl..?"

Kiba hurried to his girlfriend's side despite his limp, and slid his arms around Akari, kissing her on the cheek.

"I missed you Akari."

"Yes, Kiba. I missed you too." Akari said, trying to fill her voice with emotion as best she could, and relaxed into Kiba's arms. Her boyfriend was home, she could at least try and enjoy herself!!! But Sasuke's return had definitely dampened her spirits.

'Yet again more complications…' she muttered quietly as she leaned her head against Kiba's chest. It was going to be a looooong winter.

Sakura couldn't comprehend what was going on here. Sasuke was back, and - hopefully - here to stay. He'd returned from Orochimaru, and he was hugging her. He never used to hug her, but she would hang around anyway like a faithful dog. She couldn't understand it at all, but decided to let it lie and enjoy the moment as best she could, and prayed that it wasn't a dream. She felt a tear slide down her cheek. She was finally reunited with one of the people that she'd lost, but now… Where would she and Naruto stand now?

Kiba was so happy that he was with Akari again. His entire universe revolved around his most precious person. He held her close to his chest, and could make out tiny heartbeats. His own and Akari's. Heart to Heart. Kiba smiled inwardly, and lay his cheek on top of Akari's jet-black head of hair. He never wanted to lose her. _If she ever… disappeared…_ Kiba couldn't even bring himself to think about it. _There would be nothing else to live for, apart from Akamaru. _But Akamaru was just as infatuated with Akari as Kiba was. The now rather large dog barked happily and bowled the couple over. Laughing they picked themselves up, and together they tickled Akamaru until he collapsed onto the dusty floor in a state of paradise. But then Kiba's happy thoughts darkened when he glanced at Sasuke and Sakura. All Sakura could see was Sasuke, but it wasn't vice versa. Sasuke was staring at Akari. _His_ Akari. He let a low growl rumble from his chest quietly, but with a menacing tone as he glared. Sasuke looked just as coldly back, and then turned around to talk to Sakura. Akari looked confused as she stared after Sasuke, and then looked at Kiba expectantly for answers. He sighed, scratched his head and led Akari away to tell her about his past relations with Sasuke, incredibly unfriendly ones.

Sasuke started smirking slightly when he watched Kiba fill up with jealousy, but then decided to keep his face straight. _What a pathetic baka._ He thought absently. _He's acting just like a faithful dog would. Then again, he isn't nicknamed 'Dog-Boy' for nothing…_ He was once again snapped out of his thoughts, but this time by the low growl that ripped out of Kiba's chest. _Oh great._ Sasuke rolled his eyes. _He's decided to be serious about the one that I've been ordered to sed-_ And once _again_, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Sakura. Now he was getting irritated. Couldn't he have a peaceful thought for one second?! Then he remembered where he was. This was Konoha, probably the most god-damned lively place in the Fire Country, if not the world. Sakura had restarted in sniffling, but Sasuke decided to not comfort her this time.

'Where's Naruto?' he suddenly asked, realising that even for Konoha, this was way too quiet.

'Oh… He's on a journey with Jiraiya-sama. He'll be so happy when he finds you back here, Sasuke-kun!!!' Sakura said, now excited. 'He should be coming back in a week or two as well!!!'

'Well.. I look forward to seeing the baka.' He smiled slightly. He _had_ missed the idiotic, over the top person that he considered his 'best friend', after 2 years, after all.

Naruto stretched and yawned as he lay on the grassy slope, staring at the sun in the sky. He was taking a break from training his rasengan technique further to reach Ero-sennin's level. The elderly sannin had mentioned that they're probably going to return to Konoha soon, and Naruto was over the moon about it, in fact he was so excited that Jiraiya had to hit him in the head just so he would shut up.

'Well… Even if I don't get to return for a while yet, I'm sure that they're all waiting for me.' Naruto murmured to himself, smiling serenely as Sakura's face entered his mind. 'Don't worry, Sakura-chan… I'll be back soon.'


	14. Chapter 13

AUTHOR'S NOTE 

**Haha, I feel so mean in this chapter . , but it had to be done, kay? And sorry that the chapters have been getting shorter, but it's easier this way. Anyways, bitesize is always better, right:P Anyways, hope you enjoy Chapter 13!!! **

Akari stared out of her window, and gazed at her pale reflection in the glass. A single tear dripped down her cheek, and her eyes were bloodshot from so much sobbing. It was raining.

'How appropriate…' she muttered darkly, and glared at the sparkling rain, showering down like bullets from the empty, dark grey sky. A roll of thunder sounded loudly, as though a God was threatening to bring an apocalypse about. Akari flopped onto her bed, and closed her eyes, reflecting on the evening that had just ended, as the world sank into a cold and desolate night.

Kiba took Akari by the hand as he led her towards his house. She was happy to see him again, but for some reason her usual feeling of warmth towards him was dampened, maybe by the Very light drizzling that came down from the heavens. Just when Akari expected to enter the old wooden green gate… Kiba took a sharp turn. Surprised, she looked at him, and the only clue that he offered her was a wolfish grin and a squeeze of her hand. She smiled uneasily and continued to follow him. She was getting a bad feeling. Please don't let him be 'declaring his undying love' for me… she thought desperately. That was definitely one thing she couldn't handle. Not now, anyway. Akari then bumped into Kiba's back. He'd stopped walking. Instead, he was looking at her, smiling softly. He brought up a strong hand and brushed it along Akari's cheekbone.

'Akari…' he whispered softly, and kissed her on the forehead while embracing her. Stiffly, Akari forced her arms to hug Kiba back. What was the matter with her? Had she… Fallen out of love with him?!

'Hm?' Was all the she could respond with, and tried to keep her voice at a comfortable level.

'You know that I like you, right?'

'Y-yes…' Akari replied shakily, and silently prayed that he wasn't about to do what she thought he was about to…

'Well… I don't just like you… I Love you, Akari Nekura. I want to be with you… forever.' Kiba looked at her now, and Akari smiled as best she could at him, but then she felt a tear trickle down her cheek, and she gave up, and let her face droop into a guilty scowl.

'I… I'm sorry, Kiba-kun…' she muttered, and felt more tears trickle down her pale face. 'It's just… I…I can't…'

'I know that you're probably scared… I'm scared too!' Kiba replied gently, his own eyes shining with emotion, but his tears were happy, unlike Akari's, which oozed with sadness.

'It's not that I'm scared, Kiba-kun! It's just…' she started saying, but got interrupted again.

'Don't worry, Aka-chan. Just admit it-'

'I just don't think I can love you, Kiba!!!' Akari shouted, finally losing patience. She loosened herself from Kiba's shocked grip, and raced off towards Kakashi's house, ignoring Kiba shouting her name over and over again. Tears now flooded down her cheeks, and she couldn't fight back a few sobs as she turned the key and entered the house. Kakashi wasn't home, so she lay down on the chintz sofa and sobbed into a pillow.

After about an hour, Akari had woken up in her bedroom, and came to the conclusion that she'' cried herself to sleep, Kakashi had found her and carried her up to her room. She now looked moodily out of her window again, until she closed her eyes again and tried to sleep, to no avail. All she could hear now was Kiba's tortured cries of her name as she ran off. Akari rolled over at looked at the time. 1:03am. Greeeaaat, just what I need. A dose of torturous nights, guaranteed to keep you screaming. She thought bitterly.

A knock on the door. Great. Just what she needed.

'Go 'way...I'm...not..er..decent!'

'So?', came the smooth, slippery voice of Sasuke, sending shivers up Akari's spine.

'And what the hell are you doing here?!' she demanded as he closed the door behind him quietly.

'Too see if you were all right, of course.' He replied matter-of-factly, and nearly gave Akari a heart attack when he lay down casually next to her.

'Um… can you get off the bed?'

'No.' he replied shortly, and made himself more comfortable, therefore squashing her against the wall. Irritated, Akari shoved Sasuke off the bed, muttering, 'Jerk.'

'Okay, okay. So you're not in the greatest of moods. Sorrrry.' He grinned, and leant against her wardrobe instead.

'Who the hell d'you think you are?!' Akari yelled, not caring if Kakashi woke up. 'You can't just waltz into my bedroom and start acting like you're the centre of the universe! I've only known you for a few hours! Now stop being such an asshole and GET OUT.'

'…Make me.' Sasuke whispered, and he appeared very close to Akari's reddening face. Her heart started beating faster, as her own lips unwillingly collided with Sasuke's. But once they were locked together, Akari's instinct went wild, and she gave into temptation, kissing him just as fiercely as Sasuke was. But then she pulled away, shocked.

A tear trickled down her cheek, and she whispered, 'Get out.' This time Sasuke obeyed, and he left through the window without a word. He too looked a little ashamed of his actions.

Akari then curled up into a little ball, and muttered to herself, 'Which one do I love…? It looks like Romeo and Juliet just got a bit more complicated, for Juliet is in love with Paris.'


	15. Chapter 14

…**Hi.**

**I am having major crisis here . I am terrified that Akari is a massive Mary-Sue. Please leave a review on how to make her more of a realistic character, and that as the story progresses she'll be changing anyways. So hopefully all shall be well XD! **

**Enjoy the next chapter, and sorry if it isn't as good as some of my previous chapters (i.e. that chapter where kiba and naruto insulted eachother ), but yeah. It's summer, my brain cells are slowly being killed off by sleepless nights and I've gotten into Guild Wars. Majorly.**

As weeks went by, Akari would always find some kind of present at the front door step every single day, and every single day she would bin them or give them to her friends. Sasuke had evidently been avoiding her, as when he was talking to Sakura and Akari begrudgingly joined them, he made a big show of having constipation and bolting for the loos. He never came back. Meanwhile, Shikamaru and Shino had become sort of counsellors for Kiba, and occasionally they would get impatient and have a go at Akari for abandoning him.

Akari's birthday had also been and gone, but there was hardly a celebration for it, what with her ignoring Kiba and Sakura's infatuation with Sasuke, there hadn't really been a fun party. Tenten was on a mission, and Princess Yumi was away in the North, apparently having 'business' to attend to. So in the end Akari decided to abandon the whole idea and had a quiet celebration with Hinata, but her spirits were quickly dampened when she handed Akari an absolutely massive basket of blood-red roses with a piece of paper which said three words: 'Happy Birthday. Sorry.' Akari decided to return them to the Yamanaka Florists, saying that there was a huge misunderstanding.

Now it was nearing Christmas, the daunting time when the dreaded mistletoe came out and everybody was in ridiculously high spirits. Tsunade had declared that all missions that hadn't already gone underway had been postponed, so all ninjas in Konoha could be with their loved ones. This had to be the most depressing Christmas that Akari had had in Konoha yet. Now she sat at a Ramen Bar with Tenten (she'd returned about a week ago), letting her do the talking while she wallowed in her thoughts.

'AKARI!!!' She jolted up to see a furious Shikamaru inches from her dazed face. For a second she had thought that it was Kiba, and then she was disgruntled.

'Oh. It's you.' She muttered, bracing herself for yet another outburst from the senior Chuunin. 'What d'you want this time…?'

'I think you already know what I want, Akari.' He growled. 'Apologise to Kiba, dammit!'

'Why?'

'I think you bloody well know why! Kiba's a bloody mess. He's given up on sending you presents or attempting to approach you in the street. He's giving up. He's even considering putting himself on the front line in a distant war that's going on Northwards. Without Akamaru.'

'WHAT?!' Akari shouted, and jumped to her feet immediately. 'But without Akamaru, his jutsus are-'

'Powerless. Exactly. For God's sake, why can't you just realise how much he loves you, then you two can snog and make up and he can be the same happy arrogant-arsed Kiba that he used to be?! For our sanity, and Kiba and Akamaru's, just get back together with him!' Shikamaru begged, trying his best to look sincere as he said this (but failing).

'…Y-You can't make me do something I don't w-want to do…' Akari spluttered, a wave of remorse settling over her. Then she was silent for a few minutes.

'What do I have to do?'

'Nothing. I can take it from here. I just needed to make sure that you still cared about him.' Shikamaru replied shortly, and walked off, leaving Tenten and Akari.

'He does have a point, y'know.' Tenten commented, looking at her pointedly.

'You wouldn't happen to know what he's planning, _do you_?' Akari said meaningfully, looking at Tenten with contempt.

'Uh, um.. Whaddaya mean?! IhaveNoIdeaWhatYouAreTalkingAbout'KayThanksBye!!!' she shouted as she fled from Akari's death glare.

'Oh, she is _so _involved in Shika's plans…' she muttered, finished off her ramen bowl, left money on the counter and walked off, hands in pockets. She had no idea where she was going, but before she knew it she ended up at Sakura's house. She hammered the door with her frozen hands until eventually Akari's best friend answered the door.

'Um… Hey, Akari-chan. What's up?' she said, looking a little bemused at Akari's worried and slightly upset face.

'Oh, Sakura-chan, I don't know what to do!!!' Akari bawled, and even more bewildered, Sakura helped her in and fixed her a mug of hot chocolate while she complained and whined about all the events that had been flung in her face in the past week or so.

'…Wow. That _is_ a mess.' Sakura mused, and Akari could tell that she knew something, and thus she did what she had recently realised she could do best. She looked at Sakura with puppy-dog eyes.

'Sakura-chaaaan…. Do you know what Kiba's planning…?' Akari begged, staring at her best friend as innocently as she could.

'…Oh no. You're not getting anything out of me!' Sakura smirked, and Akari's innocent face quickly changed to a glower.

'…Fine. But I'm really beginning to _hate_ surprises.' She muttered, but secretly she was excited at the prospect of this surprise. Maybe this was a chance for her and Kiba to start anew, and take it slower, without the messy complications of love. She just wasn't ready for that kind of… commitment.

'Yeah yeah, whatever. I can see you're about as excited as a 5-year-old on her birthday.' Sakura laughed, and pushed Akari playfully.

'Agh, is it really that obvious?' she moaned, and hit her head against a pillow repeatedly, while saying, 'Oh, I don't know. I like him, but I'm scared that he's going to go all… _serious_ with me again. I just want smooth easy sailing.'

'You know, a lot of girls would _kill_ to hear their boyfriends say they love them, and here you are dumping yours for saying it!' Sakura sighed, shaking her head and ran her fingers through her bubblegum pink hair.

'Heh, well I'm not one of them.' Akari grumbled in reply. She sat up, and looked at Sakura for a moment before saying shyly, 'Is it okay if I stay over tonight…?'

Surprised, Sakura looked back, and said, 'Sure! You're always welcome here, Akari-chan, you know that!'

Akari simply nodded in response, and thus the sleepover began. The two girls watched TV for most of the night, talked about meaningless things, simply to fill up the empty silence that seemed to grow and grow as the night wore on.

A few hours into the morning, Akari murmured, 'Ne, Sakura-chan?'

'Hm?'

'…D'you think me and Kiba-kun will ever be able to work things out again.'

There was a pause, and then Sakura made Akari look at her. 'Of course you will. The very day you two started going out, I said to TenTen: 'I think they're soul-mates or something…'. I wouldn't just say that. Don't worry Akari-chan, I know you can do it! Bring a touchdown in the relationships field!!' Sakura said seriously at first, then dropped the whole attitude and brought out her scary cheerleader side, which Akari cowered away from quickly.

'Uh… okay. Night, Sakura-chan.'

'Aw… okay then. Night.'


	16. Chapter 15

**Authors Note:**

**Yaaay. I'm really happy that this story's had over 1000 hits. It means a lot to me lol :P I get really happy over tiny things like that. I don't care if most of you hated my story. I'm still happy! Um. Yeah. Well, if you're wondering what sanbi means if you haven't worked it out yet (at the end), then don't worry. You'll find out soon enough And sorry for not updating for so long o.o; -gets shot in the head- …I probably deserve that.**

Akari ended up staying at Sakura's house for 3 days. She couldn't face the vast array of presents that probably waited for her back at Kakashi's house. But knowing that she couldn't stay at Sakura's any longer (it was Christmas Eve), she left the Harunos and returned to Kakashi's home. As she opened the door, she expected to find a vast array of presents on the coffee table… but she didn't. Instead she found a small letter with scratchy handwriting, bearing the word: 'Akari.'

Akari felt her breath catch in her throat. This was Kiba's handwriting for sure. Suddenly she was afraid to come any closer, as though there was an invisible barrier pushing her away from it. But she forced her way through, and picked up the letter. Then, trembling slightly… she opened it.

'_Akari._

_I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I really am. If I could go back in time I would have held back my feelings for you until you were ready to hear and (hopefully) accept them. But please, we could still work things out. Akamaru misses you, and day after day he asks me where you are! I promise you that nothing will be any different than when we first started out. Please meet me on training grounds at 9:00pm, we can talk things out there._

_Kiba & Akamaru.'_

Akari glanced at the clock that hung on the wall in the kitchen. It was 8:50pm (she'd stayed the day at Sakura's house.), and she'd get there on time if she ran. Akari knew that she owed Kiba and Akamaru this, after all the times that she'd blanked them, because it hurt too much to even look at them. She then grabbed a warm jacket (it was snowing heavily outside), house keys and then sped off towards the training grounds.

Akari arrived at the grounds just after 9:00pm, and saw Kiba pacing in the snow, creating a ring of green dewy grass, and Akamaru, who was looking up at him worriedly. He then stuck his nose into the air and sniffed slightly. He barked excitedly, and he and Kiba looked in Akari's direction, and she felt really guilty at the look of pathetic hopefulness in Kiba's eyes. Smiling slightly, she stepped out of the shadow of the trees and into the moonlight.

'…I should've known that you'd both have sniffed me out eventually.' She said, careful not to let any emotion apart from a faint friendliness leak into her tone of voice.

Kiba and Akamaru grinned simultaneously, and Kiba said, 'We've both still got the strongest senses of smell in the village.'

Then there was an awkward silence, the kind that made you feel incredibly uncomfortable, and you had no idea what to say, because everything you thought about saying sounded completely ridiculous. Eventually it was Akamaru who broke it, by trotting over to Akari nudging her forward so that she ended up riding the ninja dog, and then he took her towards Kiba, who was looking at the ground, hands shoved in his new jacket's pockets. Akari noticed that he was blushing slightly. Then he sighed heavily and looked at her.

'Akari…' he began, his colour returning to normal slowly. 'I'm sorry. But please, come back to me. I'll treat you with the same…no, _more_ respect if you'll agree to be my girlfriend again. You don't have to do it, I won't force you into anything, I promise.'

Akari felt as though her face hadn't been this close to Kiba's in years, not a few weeks. Her heart was beating so loudly, that he and Akamaru could probably hear it. But she decided to ignore all these feelings and do something to take her mind off it.

'Hey, let's fight.' She said quickly before Kiba could say anything else.

'…Huh?' his face went from surprised to incredulous. 'Um. Why?!'

'Well, we're at the training grounds right? We're supposed to _train_ here. I'm itching for a fight

anyway.'

'Alright, I suppose. Ready Akamaru?' Akamaru barked in agreement.

'Excellent.' Akari grinned, and sped off at lightning speed towards the river. Her element. Also, she knew Kiba wasn't too good at fighting water jutsus. _This should be interesting…_ she thought, and smiled wider. Then she got ready to block Kiba's first shuriken attack.

Kiba didn't have a clue why Akari would want to fight at this time, but he didn't question it. It was a chance for him to spend some time with her, even if it was somewhat hostile. Kiba took out several shuriken from his weapon pouch, concealed him and Akamaru in the trees and tossed them in Akari's direction. She blocked them with a kunai. He expected that. Akari was a fairly strong ninja, probably equal to his ability, but she was definitely not a match for someone like the Akatsuki. They'd chew her out within minutes. He guessed that it was time for her to make her move, and that he'd better get ready to run for it… If he could.

Akari made a couple of hand signs, and then the water below her began to bubble with heat, and steam began to rise, with a faint glow of chakra. She had attached very fine chakra strings from her fingertips to the essence of the steam. She'd only recently developed this jutsu, and it had taken a lot of time and energy as well. She definitely hadn't perfected the chakra strings yet though, because she could still see the chakra, but never mind. It would have to do. She sent the steam through the trees in search for any large masses of body heat… But there weren't any. Akari frowned, her chakra-filled steam mustn't be working…. Unless –

Akari whipped around just in time to see Kiba and Akamaru leaping down on her. She tried to bring a water shield around her but it was too weak –

'Caught you.' Kiba grinned as wires enclosed on Akari's figure, but not crushing her. Her hands were tied away from her weapon pouch, so she couldn't use anything to break free. Then she smirked. She'd have to use _that_, then?

'I guess you have…' she smiled, as she moved her fingers as discreetly as possible. _Just a little further…_ she thought. 'You become a really great ninja, Kiba…'

_Now!_

Akari clenched her right fist, bringing scalding water down on Kiba, making him yell in pain. He let go of the wire, and before Akamaru could react she brought a karate kick down on Kiba and used his wire to bind Akamaru, making sure not to actually hurt him.

'I win.' She laughed, and put a victory sign in Kiba's face.

'Pffft.' He grumbled, and when Akari helped him up, her hand caught his, and they looked at each other, surprised.

'S-sorry.' She muttered, and snatched her hand away quickly, but Kiba had already acted. He put his hand around her waist and hugged her. Akari stood there, frozen. _This can't be happening…_ she thought furiously. _I wasn't going to let it happen this time!_ But it was only seconds before she started crying and hugged him back. He made soothing sounds, and stroked her hair, while she sobbed onto his shoulder.

'Kiba.. I… I don't know what to do!' she gasped between sobs. 'I like you, I really do… But I _am_ scared… I just don't think I'm ready, Kiba.'

Kiba made Akari looked at him. 'Akari, listen to me. I would _never_ do anything to hurt you, I promise-'

'I _know_ you wouldn't Kiba that's the point! I'm scared that I'll… That I'll hurt you instead… Like I did before.' Akari muttered, then she looked away quickly before she could see Kiba's face.

'Akari. Look at me. We all make mistakes, right? You're coming to the Christmas party, right?'

She looked at Kiba, bewildered by the sudden change of subject. 'Um… Yes, why?'

'Just wondering. Well, ja ne, Akari-chan!' he winked, then whistled for Akamaru to follow him, and together they disappeared into the trees.

Akari was dumbfounded. 'What the hell just happened…?' she wondered aloud. She then wiped her tears away, and looked up at the sky. Hundreds of stars were twinkling mischievously, as though they'd witnessed the events that had just passed. As she walked back to Kakashi's house, she mentally kicked herself in the head for letting herself get close to Kiba. Again.

A man in a black cloak with red clouds watched the girl walk away. He glanced at his companion, who said 'Deidara. We _must_ catch the sanbi as soon as possible. It is vital to the Akatsuki's plans, and-'

'Yeah, yeah. You hate to keep people waiting, right Sasori?' Deidara smirked, finishing his partners sentence for him. 'Well why don't we do it now?'

'It's too dangerous. The container is too close to the village.' Sasori said in a monotone, and Deidara could tell that he was irritated by this fact.

'Well… I guess we'll just have to wait, much to your irritation un?' he grinned, and together they vanished, without leaving a single trace of themselves behind, with only the distant stars for witnesses.


	17. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:**

**Hiiii D Hope you enjoy this chapter. And I find Akari and Shika's conversation/argument very amusing XD! Shikamaru is the best character ever. :. Well, anyway enjoy!**

Faint daylight crept through Akari's eyelids, forcing her awake. She blinked a couple of times, stretched, and remembered. It was Christmas Eve.

But Akari was hardly in the mood for celebrating. A while ago, she'd ceased being a 'morning lark', like Kakashi used to call her, but had developed a grouchy streak, which was what her sensei called 'normal', but she wasn't about to agree with a man who always had his nose stuck obsessively into his disgusting 'Icha-Icha' books. Akari had read one page of them, and felt like she was about to vomit.

After about an hour, Akari rolled out of bed, dragging the duvet with her. She untangled herself and sauntered downstairs, hair bedraggled. She expected Kakashi to be out (and he was), but she definitely _didn't_ expect to find a boy with a lazy smile sitting on the couch watching TV. He glanced in Akari's direction and smirked.  
'My God, it's up!'  
Akari chose to ignore that comment (especially the 'it' part), and asked about the time.  
'It's quarter past eleven.' He stated, and when she groaned and collapsed on the sofa, he muttered, 'And people say _I'm _lazy…'

'Can it, pony-boy.'  
'Hey, leave my hairstyle out of this!' Shikamaru replied, affronted. Then when he thought Akari wasn't looking, he stroked his ponytail. Lovingly.

Akari stared at him incredulously. 'Did you just _stroke_ your ponytail?'  
'No!' Shikamaru snapped, and snatched his hand away quickly, much to Akari's amusement. As the day wore on they watched TV, teased each other, the things good friends normally do. But at around 4pm, Akari realised something.  
'Hey, Shika?'

'Hm?'

'Why are you here..?'

Shikamaru snorted. 'You've only just realised?'  
'Well…' Akari muttered, flushing slightly.

'I'm here because there's a surprise for you, A-ka-ri-chan!' he grinned at the look of horror on his friends face.  
'Damn! I can't _believe_ I fell for your schemes again, Shika!' Akari moaned, and was considering banging her head on the coffee table when Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts.  
'Go put something festive on, and then come back down so I can chaperone you to your surprise.' And when Akari reached the top of the stairs (by force), he added, 'And don't even think about escaping through the window.'

She tried it anyway, and failed miserably, because Shikamaru grabbed her arm, launched her into the air and lumped her on his back, making a casual pace towards the centre of Konoha.

'PUT. ME. DOWN!' Akari screeched, hammering her fists into Shikamaru's back.

'No.' he replied shortly, clearly unaffected by the people who were staring at the two of them.

'PUT ME DOWN, DAMMIT! Don't make me slap you!' she snarled.  
'Keh, go on then.' He chuckled. Akari made an accurate swing at him, and he missed narrowly. 'Ha, you suck!' he grinned.

'Pfft, I give up!' Akari sighed. 'As if _you'd_ know how to treat a lady, anyway. Hmph!'  
There was some silence, then Shikamaru broke it. 'You weren't referring to yourself, were you?'

A boy with shaggy dark brown hair was pacing the back of a stage nervously. His heart was pounding with nervousness and anxiety.

'Where the hell's Shikamaru with Akari?' he growled at Naruto, who was tuning an electric guitar.

'How should I know? She's your ex, and he's your best friend.' Then Naruto raised his eyebrows, smirking. 'Hey, maybe they-'

'Don't even _say_ it, damn fox!' Kiba snarled, looking ready to punch the blonde teenager, who held his hands up in surrender.

'Hey, don't take it out on me! Anyway, shouldn't Akamaru be looking out for them?' he said, arching a single brow this time.

'Yeah, but I still worry, baka. Sakura's gonna be _so_ surprised when she sees you on stage. She still doesn't know that you're back, right?'

'Right!' Naruto grinned, his eyes suddenly sparkling. 'I can't wait to see Sakura-chan's face! It'll be priceless!' he laughed at the thought, then winced. She might take her violent side out on him, but that was a chance he had to take. Love was pain, after all.

'Oy, baka. Don't get too full of yourself, yet.' A familiar voice called from behind him. Naruto whirled around to see someone he hadn't seen in nearly 3 years.

'SASUKE?' he shouted incredulously, toppling off his chair. Sasuke smirked at him, and grabbed him before he fell.

'That's right, baka. I-' There was a deafening thump when Naruto punched Sasuke in the face. He smirked, blood trailing from his split lip. 'I suppose I deserve that.'

'Damn right, teme.' Naruto grinned, and held out his hand to Sasuke. He grinned back, and grasped it, being hauled up by his teammate.

'It's good to have you back, Sasuke-teme.'

'It's good to _be_ back, baka.'

'Well, here we are.' Shikamaru said, completely oblivious to Akari's insults all of the way. He set Akari down, but grabbed her arm before she could make a run for it. There was a loud barking, which Akari thought sounded a lot like Akamaru.

'That wasn't Akamaru, _was it_?' she asked suspiciously, looking for any trace of the affirmative on Shikamaru's face, but it was indifferent.

'What barking? I didn't hear any barking.' He said, 'Come _on_. Now, according to my instructions, I am meant to blindfold the kidnapee. If the subject fails to respond, drag her in by force. Do you want to be blindfolded?' he said, looking at Akari with mild interest.

'Oh yeah, I want to be led into some place I've never been in before completely blindfolded, without a clue of my surroundings.' She said sarcastically, and Shikamaru noted it.

'Right, guess I'll have to drag you then. What a _drag…_' he sighed. Then he gripped Akari's arm even tighter, and dragged her into a dark building. It was full of people, most of those people were her Konoha friends, but she saw a few sand nin, like Temari, Gaara and Kankurou. She liked Temari, didn't particularly like Gaara and was indifferent to Kankurou.

'KYAA! YOU'RE HERE!' Akari was quickly bowled over by an overly hyper (possibly drunk) Tenten.

'Hey, Tenten!' she grinned, 'So you _were_ in on this, eh?'

'Hah, well yeah… But well done Shika! Operation 'Kidnap the Princess'… SUCCESS!' she laughed, putting an upturned thumb in Shikamaru's face.

'You spend too much time with Lee…' he said, which made Tenten quickly cease her 'youthful' behaviour.

'Erm… Yeah… _Anyway_, come on, Akari-san! It's Christmas! You'll _love_ your Christmas present! And thanks for the massive weapon set, it rocks!' Akari had sent all her presents in the mail a few days before, but she hadn't received a single one in return.

'Huh, I was wondering if I was ever going to get anything in return.' She grinned, and followed Tenten to a few front row seats. Sakura, Ino, Temari and Hinata were seated there, and there was an empty said (supposedly Akari's seat) wedged between Tenten and Sakura. Akari sat in it, and stared up at the stage before her.

'Seriously, what _is_ going on here?' she wondered aloud. Temari sniggered.

'You haven't guessed?' when Temari saw Akari's blank face, she sighed, and smacked her hand against her forehead. 'You'll see soon enough.'

'Pfft, not everybody can be a total mastermind…' Akari grumbled, and was then silenced by the lights dimming, and a voiceover (which sounded _a lot_ like Kakashi's…) called:

'Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen to the Konoha Christmas Party! The first part of the evening will involve a chance to step up into the spotlight and sing your heart out! We already have some people who've been practising for weeks, but anybody's welcome to join in! There'll also be Boys Vs Girls singing contests, and a final for soloists! It's all up to you folks to decide! So without further ado, I welcome Inuzuka Kiba onto the stage for our first song!'

'…WHAT?'


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N:**

Ahahahahahahah. -is officially insane- I LOVE those little karaoke things, and if you don't like it, tough :P I guess this could be classified as a 'Christmas Special', even if it isn't Christmas XD! It is in my mind 3 And btw, the girl that dances with Shikamaru is er… -cough- yours truly, and the girl who dances with Sasuke is my friend. I have no idea if she opened a fanfiction account, if she did I'll probably put in my bio. Okay, well enjoy! And merry Christmas O.o…?

Kiba held his breath, and walked onto the brightly-lit stage. He tried his best to ignore the stares, but it was impossible. He stared into a see of faces, and as he worked his way down to the front row, he caught Akari's incredulous face. For some crazy reason, this seemed to calm him down a lot. He smiled slightly, then sat on the single chair that stood in the center of the stage. He placed his guitar on his knee.

_Just breathe and feel the music, Kiba…_

'_And I'd give up forever to touch you  
Cause I know that you feel me somehow   
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
And I don't want to go home right now_

And all I can taste is this moment   
And all I can breathe is your life  
Cause sooner or later it's over  
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
When everything seems like the movies  
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive 

And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am 

I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am 

I just want you to know who I am  
I just want you to know who I am  
I just want you to know who I am  
I just want you to know who I am.'

Akari couldn't breathe. He sang that, for her?? It was crazy, but she was somehow mesmerised by it. She didn't clap with the audience, she just sat there in shock. Kiba didn't even look at her properly once. She could've sworn he'd looked at her before he started singing, but then he just closed his eyes, and felt the music. It made her want to cry. She clenched her fists that were pressed against her sides.

'Go to him.' A hand touched her tense shoulder gently. She snapped her head around to see Shikamaru, gazing at her kindly. Akari smiled, strained. She stood up and almost ran to the backstage area, and flung herself into Kiba's arms, kissing him desperately. Taken aback, it took Kiba a few seconds to begin kissing back, just as desperately as she was. After about 3 minutes they came up for air, and Kiba smirked while Akari flushed tomato red. Then she smiled.

'I love you too…' she whispered, making Kiba blush just as deeply as Akari, and when they leaned in towards each other to kiss again, a curtain to their left fell down, revealing themselves to the entire audience, but they hadn't noticed, and kissed deeply anyway.

They only broke apart when Tenten shouted, 'AT LONG BLOODY LAST. NOW GET A ROOM!' making everybody laugh, including the newly reformed couple.

They stood there for a while, Akari's arms looped around Kiba's neck, and his hands on her hips.

'Um… Akari?'

'Hm?'

'I think we should go sit down and watch the next act.'

'…Good Point.' Akari flushed, and they walked quickly to a couple of seats, Akari in the one she sat in earlier, and Kiba on her left (Tenten screamed at the others to move down one unless they wanted to face her new weaponry collection. And yes, Tenten is officially the crazy violent woman of Konoha. Scary, isn't it?).

'Okay, after that little… er… fiasco… we now have a _very_ special guy here to sing for us. Give it up for _Naruto Uzumaki_!'

Sakura's face went white as a sheet. 'NANI?!' she screamed, jumping up from her seat as Naruto walked onto the stage. He'd definitely grown a few inches, and sported a new outfit, but he still kept the usual orange theme.

'This is dedicated to Sakura-chan, and it's great to be back!' he grinned, and Sakura flushed deep crimson when he announced his dedication, to Akari's amusement. Then Naruto opened his mouth and sang. 

'_It's all about you, it's all about you baby…'_

FF 

When Naruto finished the song, everybody burst into applause. He didn't have as good a voice as Kiba's, but it was still nice all the same. It had a nice mellow tone, unlike Kiba's husky (and very sexy) voice.

Sakura looked astounded for a second, then her face went red with anger, and she stalked off towards the backstage area.

'God help the poor guy…' Kiba muttered, and Akari grinned. They could hear faint noises of 'NARUTO YOU BAKA!' and 'SAKURA-CHAN, GOMENASAIIII!', along with screams of pain and crashing sounds.

'Ouch. Naruto was right, love _is_ pain…' Kiba said aloud, and Akari looked and him quizzically, but he reassured her with a smile that he was fine.

'Hm…. I just had an idea.' Akari smiled, and Kiba watched her walk off to the backstage area, confused.

When Akari arrived there, she saw Naruto had a split lip and Sakura was dusting her hands over him.

'…Good God, Sakura. What the hell did you DO to him?!' she gasped, Sakura grinned at her best friend.

'Oh nothing… Just teaching him a lesson. The one where you're _supposed_ to tell your girlfriend that you're back from a two year journey with a pervert.' She smiled sweetly (which made her all the more frightening), and left a crumpled up Naruto on the floor. Akari ran over to him, and used a healing jutsu on his black eye, reducing the swelling slightly.

'Ah, arigato Akari-chan.' He smiled, and gingerly fingered his eye when she finished.

'Well, you should've thought about Sakura's vicious temper _before_ you decided to do this, Naruto-kun.' Akari grinned.

'So what're you doing here anyway?'

'Ah… Well you'll find out soon enough.' Akari laughed while tapping her nose. Then she flounced off towards the sound area, leaving Naruto standing there bewildered._  
_


	19. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:**

A gazillion-billion-million kudos to my friend JupiterSpoon for writing some of this for me! Go read her HP fanfic. Now. The song that Akari sings is Come Here Boy by the one, the only, Imogen Heap!!! –crowd goes wild- woo? Well… yeahh. I like this chapter D And apologies for the long wait! I know people have been waiting for this… And I apologise profusely. Enjoy Chapter 18!

Akari bounded up happily to Kakashi, who was leaning back on a swizzle-chair, feet on the desk next to the soundboard. He was busy reading his book when she arrived, and only realised someone was there when she coughed loudly, expectant.

'Oh, hey there Akari-chan. What d'you want?' he said, sounding bored.

'I want to sing a song.' She said bluntly.

'Oh. Right. Please don't tell me you're going to make a massive love-scene like you just did with Kiba, Jiraiya's already written that down for his research… though I _am_ looking forward to that in the next-'

'HE DID WHAT?!' Akari screeched, practically choking on air. 'HOW BLOODY DARE HE! I AM GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT I CASTRATE JIRAIYA INCREDIBLY…. Slowly?' she had realised something terrible. She had just screamed all of that into the microphone. Quickly she composed herself, 'Uh… sorry 'bout that. Please could Jiraiya report to the soundboard promptly. There are some issues that need to be discussed. Thank you, and enjoy your evening.' She said in an air-hostess-style voice, and added, 'And I sincerely apologise for interrupting the act that is currently performing. Thank you.'

Kakashi was just about killing himself laughing by this time, and Akari made sure to turn the mike away from her before she started talking again.

'Say… one word… and I'll murder you.' She hissed threateningly. And just as Kakashi opened his mouth, she added, 'Oh, I'll also stop cleaning your house.'

'Okay, okay! I get it!' he surrendered. Before Akari arrived, Kakashi's house had been a complete disgrace. Rubbish everywhere, dirt everywhere… It looked like a bombsite.

Kakashi ran a hand through his silvery, gravity-defying hair, and nodded.

"Okay," Akari said, "So I'll need to decide the song I'm going to sing. Obviously, it has to be…Kakashi?"

She turned around to find that Kakashi had vanished. The next thing she knew, a voice that was extremely familiar coming out of the speakers.

"And next up with her beautiful singing, we have the one, the only, hardcore sop, AKARI NEKURA! WOOOOOOO!"

An unknown pair of hands pushed a horrified Akari on stage.

"Kakashi!" she hissed vehemently through her microphone, which was connected to Kakashi's headset.

"Yes dearest Akari-channy wanny?", his voice said sweetly.

"WHAT SONG AM I BLOODY WELL GOING TO SING? I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR EYEBALLS AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR ARSE SO YOU CAN WATCH ME KICK THE CRAP OUT OF Y…"

Sniggers escaped from the stunned silence of the audience. A neutral beat and piano began playing out of the speakers, and Akari belted out the first song that came to mind.

It's dark in here, visions are flashing into my head  
as I reminisce my reoccurring dreams and you said,  
"I'm falling, falling for you babe and  
my feelings are getting stronger"  
so why don't you stay with me for a, for a little longer…  
come here boy, oh oh, come here boy  
come here boy, oh oh, come here boy

I know that my face is only too familiar to your sleep  
I can see it in your eyes and I can tell by your body heat  
why are you taking so long?  
you need, need to come and find me, honey  
to set your mind at rest, and let your dreams run free  
come here boy, oh oh, come here boy  
come here boy, oh oh, come here boy  
come here boy,(Echo) oh oh, come here boy  
come here boy,(Echo)oh oh, come here boy

you know I'm no stranger in your dreams...  
you know I'm no stranger in your dreams...

oh and I'm craving and I'm howling, I'm begging and I'm pleading  
be mine tonight, oh yeah  
oh and I'm waiting and I'm dying, I'm wanting and I'm needing  
to show you the slut I am,  
where I'll be touching and holding, caressing and giving you  
every fantasy, yeah  
I'll get you dreaming and lusting, I'm burning and praying  
for more of this ecstasy, Oh Yeah

Come here boy, ah ah, come here boy yeah  
Come here boy, ah ah, come here boy yeah  
Come here boy, ah ah, come here boy yeah  
Come here boy, ah ah, come here boy

You know...  
You know...  
I'm no stranger in your dreams. 

As her voice trailed off, the audience began to cheer, and Kiba was looking at her admiringly, and was one of the loudest cheerers. But it was nothing to the look on Sasuke's face, his eyes smouldering, his face full of intense anger.

Startled and confused, Akari clambered off the stage and went after him.

_What the hell is wrong with him?_

Sasuke walked through an endless maze of corridors, oblivious to Akari's pleas to slow down.

Finally, he stopped at a door, going into the room, and slamming it behind them.

Fuming, Akari wrenched open the door.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you? There's no reason why you should be so pissed off…what on earth are you grinning about?"

For Sasuke was leaning against the wooden table, with an arrogant smirk on your face.

"What's cookin', good lookin'?", he said silkily.

"Why did you drag me here?", Akari said, stunned. Suddenly she found herself shoved against the wall, Sasuke's hands on either side of her head, her hands pinned.

'Oh, I just want something…' he said innocently, but his eyes looked anything but.

'…And what would that be?!' Akari said, her voice going a little bit high.

Sasuke smirked. 'You.'


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N Yeah... hey guys =] nearly 3 years later and I stumble upon this old piece of work xD I think it has potential... well, either that or i've just found another method of procrastination for my GCSEs =] My writing style might have changed a bit, so sorry if it has. Please R&R! Concrit will be much appreciated.**

'Sorry?' Akari gasped, staring wide-eyed at Sasuke, whose dark eyes never left hers, smouldering with desire. 'Do you think you can just pin me up against this wall, tell me that you want me and I'll just, I don't know... fall into your arms? Yeah, _right_.' With that Akari attempted to push Sasuke away, but he kept her pinned.

'That's the basis of my plan, yes.' Sasuke smirked, and proceeded to kiss her.

Desire flooded into Akari as she remembered the last time they had kissed, but then she thought of Kiba. All desire was quenched.

'NO!' she yelled, and with extreme force she kicked Sasuke into the opposite wall. 'Who the hell do you think you are? You can't assume that I'll just fall in love with you as soon as I see you, asshole! I have a _boyfriend_, in case you haven't noticed, who _loves me_. If you think you can sway my feelings for him, then you have another thing coming, you stupid bas-'

'Akari, what the hell's going... on.' Kiba barged through the door, but faltered when he saw an injured Sasuke against the wall. '...Okay. What's going on?'

'Why don't you ask your little girlfriend, dog boy?' Sasuke spat, glaring at Akari, his eyes glinting darkly. 'She's the one who was kissing me a minute ago.'

Akari gasped. 'That is a total LIE, Kiba! Sasuke just pushed me up against the wall, told me he wanted me and tried to kiss me, so I kicked him into the wall.' Akari managed to keep a hold of her temper before she exploded with anger at Sasuke.

Kiba looked from Akari to Sasuke, and Sasuke to Akari. He put his palm to his forehead and frowned, thinking. After about a minute he straightened, and snarled at Sasuke. 'Somehow I don't believe you, asshole. Akari would never want to kiss such a pathetic loser like you, especially one who betrayed his own nation!' And with that, he led Akari out of the room and back to the audience.

'Damn it!' Sasuke banged his fist against the wall, making a satisfying thud. He almost had her in his grasp. Sure, she was already rejecting him before he even kissed her, but if Kiba hadn't barged in he would've been able to seduce her easily. He needed to act soon, otherwise the Akatsuki would get there first, and their way of grabbing her would be far less pleasant.

'Kiba, I'm so sorry about that..' Akari began as they left the room, but Kiba pressed a finger against her lips.

'It's fine, Akari. I don't know why Sasuke is harassing you, but I promise I'll make it stop.' He kissed her on the forehead and continued to lead her back to the auditorium.

The rest of the night's acts consisted of silly practical jokes, and some really good dance routines choreographed and performed by some Jounins. They also had a Boys vs. Girls sing-off, for whoever wanted to be involved, which turned out to be everyone in the auditorium. After a great laugh and a few drinks of saké, everyone was warmed up and ready to go home.

As Akari was about to shrug on her coat, Kiba appeared and helped her into it, grinning. 'My lady, may I escort you home?' He said, bowing mockingly.

'Of course, my trustworthy knight!' Akari played along, curtseying, and kissed Kiba on the cheek. She then linked arms with Kiba, waved goodbye to everyone and left with him, towards Kakashi's house.

'So... What's it like, living with the great and mysterious Jounin Kakashi?' Kiba teased, squeezing Akari's hand.

'_Very_ hard work,' Akari grinned. 'Also a nightmare in the morning when you're desperate for a shower. He spends _ages_ in it, honestly!'

A comfortable silence settled between them, as they walked down an empty street, holding hands.

Kiba broke the silence. 'Why don't you get your own place then?'

'W-what?' Akari stuttered, staring at Kiba. 'Are you _nuts_? First of all, I don't have any money, second of all -'

'Just make an appeal to Tsunade! How else do you think that asshole Uchiha lived on his own when his entire clan was destroyed?'

Akari stopped walking. '...What?' She whispered, her eyes wide.

'Didn't you know? When he was only about eight years old, his entire clan was destroyed by his own brother, Itachi.' Kiba frowned.

'I thought it was only in my dreams that that had happened.. but... it's true? Just like me...' Akari whispered, tears now forming in her eyes, full of compassion for Sasuke. Had he gone through the things she had? The guilt? The terror? The shame?

'Wait... what? You belonged to a clan, too?' Kiba said, shocked. 'What happened to your clan, Akari?'

'They all died, just like his...' Akari snapped out of it, realising the mistake she had made. She'd let someone find out about her past. 'It doesn't matter any more. What's done is done.' She hastily wiped her tears away. She managed a smile. 'It's all in the past, and anyway, I'm not hell bent on revenge like he is. What could I possibly do to avenge my clan when there is nobody else but me to appreciate it? I'm glad that I'm out of there, anyway, otherwise I wouldn't have met you, or anyone else in Konohagakure.'

Kiba looked at her, long and hard. After a while he relaxed, and took her hand again. 'It's okay, Akari,' He smiled. 'If you ever want to talk about it, I'll be here to talk about it with you.'

'Thanks, Kiba.' Akari smiled and relaxed.

They carried on walking, and eventually arrived outside Kakashi's house. Akari turned to look up at Kiba.

'Maybe I will talk to Tsunade about getting my own place.' She smiled, and kissed Kiba goodnight. Kiba circled his arms around her waist and held her close. After a moment he kissed her hair.

'Sleep well, I love you!' He grinned and bounded off, disappearing into the night.

'Hmm.. Maybe I love you too, Kiba..' Akari muttered, as she unlocked the door and went inside.


End file.
